Ranma, Far Traveler
by FireForEffect
Summary: Genma a panda? Goes without saying. But when Ranma is skipped across several pools, things are bound to be different. On Hiatus...
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: This playground was created and is owned by Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ. I'm just playing on the swings. Same goes for any other series that might make its way into this story.

Authors note: This is a re-write of Ranma, Far Traveler. I wasn't too happy with how some of the things went and quite frankly, I was writing myself into a corner. So I decided to take a break to think it over and do a rewrite.

Prologue

Two figures covered in dark cloths and wearing cloaks that seemed to blur their forms made their way through the steamy jungle. Shadows seemed to go out of their way to cover the two as they made their way. Eerily silent, they found a break that led them to a small overgrown path that lead down into a mist filled valley. Making their way into the valley, hundreds of pools became apparent, with more hidden beneath the mists. Each pool had a bamboo pole jutting out of it.

The two figures stopped when the sounds of fighting came apparent. Suddenly a boy with a pigtail dressed a dirty gi that might have once been white shot overhead, bouncing from pole to pole in a crazy zigzag pattern. A larger figure seemed to take a higher, more direct rout as it sailed overhead it a massive leap that spanned near a dozen pools. The obviously overweight figure made a surprisingly graceful landing on a pole directly in the path of the bounding boy. There was no pause however as the two immediately jumped at each other, attacking in a beautifully vicious manner. They both mostly ignored the small guide that chased after the two spouting various warnings.

One of the cloaked figures gazed intently at the tableau before it. The brash young martial artists perched on the poles like a majestic predator between bouts of mid-air fighting. The other, older man seemed much too much like an angry bear for it not to be in his ancestry. The figure smirked under his hood at the thought. The second figure, seemed less than interested in the scene.

"We both know how it is going to go. You can speak to Jusenkyo just as well as I. In goes the father, out comes a panda. Startled, in goes the boy, out comes a girl. I'm not really surprised; the springs usually chose their victims curses to teach them a lesson. The diviners back at the stronghold have a rough idea of what's going to happen in the future and it involves that boy." The first figure spoke.

"Oh really? I never put much stock into what they say, it changes on an hour-to-hour biases. I think they make that rubbish up myself. What did they have to say about this one?" The second figure said.

"They say that every single diviner has seen the boy defeat Saffron during his ascension." The first said simply. " The last time every diviner saw the same thing was the great sundering. We can't afford to ignore this warning."

"Its been written in the tapestries that no human could defeat him. And he would just grow back anyway." The second one said.

"He might grow back, true, but there is always that period where he is young and weak, and it gets longer every time. The Phoenix tribe is weak, and I don't think they would be able to survive without Saffron for very long. As powerful as Saffron is, it is his people that are truly important in the grand scheme of things. And as to the part in the tapestries where 'No human could defeat him', well, there aren't really any pure 'humans' left, are there?" The First said.

"Lets just say for a minute that you are correct. The boy will eventually grow up and defeat Saffron. Without Saffron The Phoenix will become weak and perish. And without the Phoenix, our cause would be lost I suppose you would say."

"Not exactly lost, but pretty close."

"Right, lost. Kaput. Over and done with. So what, o great and knowledgeable master of the universe, are we to do about this unfortunate series of events that have yet to happen and may never happen. And why did we have to go tromping through this steaming and sweaty jungle to have this talk?"

"You didn't have to come. And I didn't come here to just watch the destruction of the world. Its not to late to change the path that the boy has been set on, At this point it would just take a drastic change." The first continued while the second just groaned. "I was thinking of different curse, something a bit, oh I don't know, a bit more 'rare'."

"You're dead set on doing this, aren't you? Well, fine, go ahead and change his curse if you can. But Jusenkyo has already decided what is going to happen to those two," The second said as the two bounded overhead, with the guide chasing behind. " our cloaks only cover our presence, and any use of magic will be detected by them. In case you had forgotten, we can't directly affect them ourselves, and the springs say that when he is knocked off that pole, he lands in the center of that spring. To affect the elements to push him off course into a different pool would need a detectable amount of magic AND make Jusenkyo mad, as well as getting us detected. As talented as you are, I don't think you could take out an entire regiment while in a cursed form."

"You've lived with having your way to long my friend. You're to used to commanding it be done and having it so. You forgot that the simplest and most powerful way to change something was to simply ask. I'm been explaining the situation to Jusenkyo while we have been talking and it agrees that if things continue on their current path, it would mean the springs end. Nothing like self-preservation to motivate an ancient entity. Jusenkyo has agreed to make a change. And our opponents will never know." The first figure sketched a small bow towards the center of the springs. "We all forget how things used to be done now and again. Come, let's go back home and watch what happens. Who knows, there may be new opportunities."

"I just hope we didn't make another enemy."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 –In the beginning…

Standing there on a pole looking at his son on a different pole, Genma was proud of his son. He was also concerned. The boy was getting good. Almost too good. They had been fighting above the springs for a bit now, and Ranma and was holding his own. He had even anticipated some of his moves correctly. Quite the feat against a master of the Anything Goes Ryu. Ranma had endured all his training and conditioning, and come out the other side better. He had absorbed nearly all Genma had to teach him like a sponge; learning the moves and techniques and incorporating them into his art better then almost any master Genma had seen. He had even seen him use a move flawlessly in this fight that he had just shown the boy two days ago. That was the problem in a nutshell, really. Ranma had learnt from him almost too well; Genma was running out of things he could teach Ranma, let-alone beat him in a fight with, and every day Ranma got better even if he didn't teach him anything. He hadn't lost a straight out fight yet, but the time wasn't far off. Maybe it was time to finish up their training journey and secure his… err their future. Yes, that sounded like a good plan. He would teach to boy a quick lesson here and then they would head off to Tendo's place.

"Hey Old man, getting too sore? We should stop; I wouldn't want to hurt someone so old as you! You might get crippled!" That was another thing Ranma had learnt almost to well; how to insult your opponents. Well, he would just have to show the boy who was the better.

"Respect your elder's boy!" Genma said as he leapt across the springs at his son.

Ranma put his cockiest grin on and jumped up to meet his father in the air. Mid-air combat was the specialty of the Saotome Ryu, and the part Ranma loved the best. It was as close to flying as he could come, and he sought every exhilarating second of it.

While in the air soaring towards his father, he analyzed his father's position. Strong balance, left forward, with what appeared to be a slight favoring of his right wrist. Ranma remember he had gotten a lucky hit there before. Ranma knew it was a feint meant to draw him in, that was a favorite trick of his fathers. Pops was getting to predictable. The rest of his fathers' stance seemed solid and with his considerable bulk, he would have leverage in any sort of air-based grapple. Better to keep the fight away from that.

Lashing out with his foot, Ranma attacked first. Genma dodged and countered with his 'injured' right hand. Ranma saw an opportunity to lay in a good strike to his fathers right wrist, but it was probably a trick to draw him in. An obvious trick now that Ranma had a chance to get close. He would usually ignore it tricks like this when he saw them. His father would also be expecting him to ignore it. Ranma's smirk turned feral as he thought of a plan. He went for the wrist.

Genma, caught off guard by Ranma actually falling for the simple ploy with his right wrist, managed to react only with a reflexive jab and shoulder-throw. Ranma took the hit, smiled. His father was throwing him in the direction he predicted he would. Ranma let him, but not without a parting kick to the back of the head to adjust his trajectory towards a nearby pole.

Genma, unable to correct for both the unexpected shoulder-throw and the kick to the back to the head, fell like a brick right into the spring below.

**Splash!**

"Come on Pop, is that all you've got?" Ranma said. He turned to the pool his father had fallen in. Ranma thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye, but dismissed it and continued to wait for his father to surface and the fight to continue. A minute later, Ranma was starting to worry. Genma didn't usually stay under for a trick this long. What if he hit his head and was drowning? Ranma didn't really like his father as a person, but he _was_ his father. _Damn, he's probably waiting to ambush me the second I jump in. _

About to jump off his pole into the pool his father fell in, Ranma nearly fell off startled when a large figure burst from the pool. Securing himself on his perch, Ranma smirked. _Knew you couldn't hold you're breath that long Pop. Hope you kept your glasses; I don't want to have to go in and … get … them…!_

Ranma watched as the figure that burst from the pool shed the water that was cloaking it and resolve not into his father, as he was expecting, but a panda. He could only gape. "W-w-what the HELL!" Ranma was frozen in place, and could only stare as the panda made a graceful upward arc out of the pool to the pole across from him. However this bamboo pole was not designed to hold the weight of a wet panda, so it promptly snapped when the weight was applied to it. The panda was forced to make an ungainly and hop to a near-by pole.

Still Gaping at the sight of a panda leaping from pole to pole and wondering just where is father went to Ranma wasn't really able to react when He saw the panda land, adjust, then leap strait at him. Ranma's base instincts kicked in and he tried to jump to the side when He saw the panda sailing through the air at him. He sub-conscious was expecting to make a clean jump away from the panda. What Ranma's sub-conscious didn't expect, however, was the panda to pull a reverse triple inverted spin-kick, and nail him directly in the forehead.

Already off balance from the quick jump, Ranma couldn't begin to come close to adjusting for the course alteration the kick imparted to his body, let alone the massive momentum transferred into him. Ranma went shooting off at precisely the speed and angle that is required to skip stones. Physics, as if in anger for being defied so often, proved that you _can _in-fact bounce across water as Ranma was skipped rather hard across the spring before he went flying out to the center of the valley. Ranma heard the sound of shattering wood before passing out.


	3. Chapter 2

Dreamscape -Ranma

"Rrranma?" Ranma was trying to get some sleep. It was kinda of hard however. "You had betterrr wake up." First off, the ground was hard. Not that hard ground really bugged him, he had slept on worse. "You don't want to miss this." Second, he had a headache. It was the kind he usually got after getting pounded by pop. That was always annoying. "Sigh" Third; there was that irritating voice that kept rolling its r's. "WAKE UP!" Ranma was suddenly standing in a defensive position, fists up, analyzing his surroundings.

_Standing up? Check. Something woke me up and it wasn't pop. Let's see, sleeping area currently occupied by … big claws. Big claws attached to … big furry paw. Makes sense. Big paw attached to big furry leg. Makes sense too, I guess. Big furry leg attached to big furry shoulder. Um… big furry shoulder attached to big furry body. I don't think I like where this is going. Big furry body attached to big furry neck. This wont end well. Big furry neck attached to… _

"C-C-C-CAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTT!" Ranma screamed and started to run in the direction directly away from the big furry cat, leaving after-images.

As Ranma disappeared in the distance, the big cat took one of its paws and started to massage one of its temples. "We _rrreally_ don't have time for this." It said, then faded out of view.

Ranma was currently running. He was running very far. He was running very fast. He was running very far and very fast. He could feel the monster behind him. Bloody fangs glistening inches from his neck, vicious claws reaching for him, and eyes holding nothing but the promise of pain. He knew it was right there. Right behind him. He couldn't hear it, but he knew it was there. The monster had come to finish the job all the other ones had started. Ranma continued to run.

After what seemed like hours of sprint level running, Ranma started to slow down. Risking a glance behind him he saw that there was in fact no huge monstrous c-c-c-c-feline hounding him. Ranma slowed down even further, knowing the dangers stopping a hard run to fast. The fear had mostly left him by this point, and he cursed himself for being such a coward. Stopping, Ranma put his hands on his knees and hung his head, trying to catch his breath.

"Well now, that was quite an invigorating little jog therrre, don't you think kitten?" A deep voice said directly in front of him. Ranma froze. He knew for a fact that there wasn't anything in front of him a second ago. And we was sure he had run to fast for anything to keep up with him. "Now that we've gotten our exerrrcise for the day out of the way, maybe we can calm down and have a little chat." The voice continued. Ranma stayed frozen. It was probably some sort of hallucination, that made sense. A hallucination, yea, from the endorphins, a runners high. That's all it was. If he ignored it, it would go away. It was a very convincing hallucination. One that he could hear breathing. He could even hear the hallucination saunter up to him. He could feel the hallucination breathe on him. "Arrre you all rrright, Rrranma? You look a bit pale."

The big cat was standing right next to Ranma. He could see him visibly shake. The cat was surprised he wasn't bouncing around like a jack-hammer with how hard Ranma was vibrating. Listening, the cat could hear Ranma chanting "Only a hallucination. Only a hallucination." Over and over under his breath. _Hallucination my furry ass._

"Rrranma, you need to calm down." Ranma stopped chanting when the cat had said that. Well, not so much stopped chanting as biting his tongue, but the effect was much the same. Ranma lost his train of thought. Or rather, his train of thought hit the switchyard going a good 90mph. Ranma promptly forgot all about the hallucination idea.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ranma didn't make it very far this time, however. A few paces into his run, his overworked legs, weak from exhaustion, protested the harsh abuse. Normally Ranma could continue to run for days, but the stress of running at full speed, the fear's physical effects, and the fact that the adrenalin had long-ago run out all cumulated in Ranma's legs giving way and dumping him on the floor. Ranma tried to stand again, but his legs in rebellion refused to support his weight. Ranma just curled up into a little ball and whimpered.

"Oh, for the love of… you're as bad as a newborrn. You're in to shape to even hear what I have to say. I'm not even trying to scare you. What am I going to do with you? "

The Real World

"Ohh, this is very bad honored customer. Very bad. Young honored customer fall in unknown spring. Break Right through wood covering. Come, come, must get honored young customer inside." The Guide said. Ranma was lying half in a pool, blurry and indistinct.

"Growf?" Genma panda asked

"Honored customer not worry, hot water change you back." The Guide replied. "Usually." He added as an afterthought. When he turned to look at Genma, however, all he saw was a dust trail leading to his hut.

"How odd, Honored customer not want to help with son." The Jusenkyo Guide said, grabbing Ranma's limp arm (At least he hoped it was an arm. Customers tended to get annoyed when you pulled on their new tails and such) and dragging his body the rest of the way out of the spring he had been soaking in. Strong magic still flowed through that particular spring, so who knew what affect it had on the poor boy.

Young honored customer was fuzzy; he really couldn't make any details out at all. He could only tell that he was holding a limb. He had seen a lot in his tenure as the Jusenkyo Guide but this had by far taken the cake. He had read about things like this however. It wasn't quite the same as when someone took the waters of two springs, mixed them (then usually accidentally geting themselves wet) although it was similar. The effects of falling in one spring, and then while still wet, falling in another were visually similar, but underneath the changes were far more reaching. He also remembered that weird things happened when you drank Jusenkyo water, sometimes as mundane as getting stuck in your cursed form for a few hours afterwards, or as unusual as having your curse change every time you got wet; the guide had only read about that last one in an old guides journal. He hoped that the young customer hadn't ingested any of the water. Interestingly enough, he found one, short entry, in that book that particularly stuck in his mind, roughly translated it read –'Don't bleed in the springs. Bad juju.' It didn't look like the young customer had lost any blood in the springs, but with martial artist you could never really tell.

He sighed. The honored customers never usually seemed to see him or hear his warnings until after they got cursed. He had thought long on why, and the nearest he could come was the magic of Jusenkyo kept them from hearing or seeing him until they were cursed. Having been there for most of their fight, he had paid close attention to what springs young honored customer had interacted with and how. He saw honored young customer at least one spring before impacting the wood covered one near the center.

Dragging the boy towards his hut he saw he was still blurry and indistinct, and the guide still couldn't see any details. He couldn't see any major attributes either, for that matter. He had read about this situation in the "So you're a Jusenkyo Guide now" instructional pamphlet. It meant that the magic was still trying to sort itself out. He hoped that the unknown spring in the center was some sort of magical creature, those forms tended to over-ride other Jusenkyo-forms. It was never good when forms mixed.

At least he hadn't fallen in the spring of Fifty Drown Lemmings. He still had nightmares about that one.


	4. Chapter 3

Dreamscape -Ranma

Ranma was not having a good time. There was a C-c-c-c… a C-c-c…. a feline right next to him. A big one. Really big. And really big felines have really big claws and really big teeth. He hadn't blacked out, like he normally would, and that scared him more. His mind was in a state of almost near shutdown,. His legs couldn't work, he couldn't get away. It was just like _then_.

'_No daddy I don't wanna!'_ a young Ranma cried as his father spread fish-paste all over him. _'the kitties are mean and they hurt me.'_

'_Boy, you'll get back in there and learn that technique.' _The tall and imposing figure of Genma demanded.

'_But I don't wanna!_' Ranma said

'_Fine Ranma. Be weak and don't learn the technique. Take the coward's way out.' _Genma appeared to grow bigger as he spoke.

'_B-b-but I-I-'_ Ranma tried to speak.

'_Your mother would be so disappointed in you Ranma. Do you want to disappoint your mother?'_

'_N-no.'_

'_Do you know what would make your mother proud and happy? If you were be a man amongst men! Do you want to be a man amongst men Ranma and make your mother proud? Or do you want to be a Coward?'_

'_I w-wanna make mom p-proud.'_

'_THEN GET BACK IN THAT PIT!' _So saying Genma kicked Ranma into the pit and shoved a cover over the hole.

Ranma fell through the dark hole into the pit. Tumbling, Ranma took the fall awkward and landed on his tailbone. His legs were numb and refused to work when he tried to stand on them. He had to get up. They were _in_ here. He knew his legs were just numb from the shock of the fall, and they would be fine in a few minutes, but he didn't have a few minutes. He had to get his legs to work right, and get out of the pit now. They would get him, and they weren't nice like the ones back home. He still remembered that one. He was a nice white fluff ball called Pamiu, and was fun to play with. He loved Pamiu, and played games with him every day. He even remembered having pretend conversations with him. Dad said that Pamiu made him weak, and took Ranma away. The ones here were not nice like Pamiu, they scratched and hurt him. Ranma tried to stand-up again, but his legs wouldn't hold him, limp as they were.

Suddenly, they were there. Lots of them. He could hear them come closer He could see some of the closest, and they all had that hungry look in their eyes. They were all thin and half starved. Ranma had learnt to recognize that look. His own face turned to fear as the closest one leapt. He tried to curl up in a ball as best he could, but he couldn't help but whimper a little as he felt the claws dig in. He felt more claws on his body, and tried not to twitch. Twitching only made it worse. He covered his face, trying to protect his eyes. The cats would tear at him some more, and then he would pass out. He could feel the darkness building inside already.

Dreamscape – Tio

Tio was young for a guardian, and didn't have much experience in how to deal with some of the more esoteric situations. So she was at a loss at why Ranma, her charge, reacted to her form, and not a little bit hurt. The large-cat form was her natural one, and although she could understand how a normal person may have reacted with fear, because the fact was she _was_ a big predator, she didn't understand why Ranma completely panicked when she was around. He should have been happy and comfortable in her presence.

Tio watched as Ranma locked up and regressed into memory. The featureless grey landscape around them began shift into something out of Ranma's memories. She quickly made herself insubstantial and invisible; it wasn't good to interfere with someone's memories. She saw Ranma shrink down to a child version of himself and a large figure appear. Tio could only guess that the figure was Ranma's father. Her guess was confirmed as the memory started playing. She watched in mounting horror as the events started to unfold and it became apparent exactly what was going on.

Ranma was being trained in the Neko-Ken using the monstrous Forbidden Way. Her goddess had forbidden that kind of teaching the moment it was created all those years ago. All the manuals describing this teaching method should have been destroyed. It was purely a short cut, and only offered a few of the benefits of the Neko-Ken that pertained to fighting while at the same time driving the trainee insane and giving them an intense fear of all cats.

This was a disaster. Her goddess was pleased when one of her chosen had learnt the Neko-ken, but she had not been able to learn the method of teaching. Ohh how that horrible man would pay. This was a crime, and had to be corrected. But the fault clearly was not Ranma's. He was innocent, like all the others that had suffered from this technique before. It was a testament to his character, as only the good and innocent use her goddess power without dieing. But first, she needed to try and help Ranma.

Messing with someone's memories was dangerous, not only for the person that was receiving help, but for the one that was trying to help as well. To change someone's memories, you had to put yourself inside that memory, and become vulnerable to it. It also only changed that particular memory, and no others before or after it. But she was more then willing to risk herself and try and help Ranma, she had been with him in spirit since he was born, helping him as much as she could, and knew that he was a good person. It was normally forbidden to change or alter someone's memories, but she was sure that her goddess would forgive her for breaking that rule this one time.

Taking a mental deep-breath, Tio plunged herself into Ranma's memories. She materialized herself inside the pit where Ranma was, mentally tweaking it so that the hole was big enough to hold her full form. Looking around her, she saw that the cats were already attacking Ranma, and suddenly felt the compulsion to do the same. She recognized the completion for what it was; Ranma's mind trying to make her fit with the memory of the other cats. Gently but firmly she threw the compulsion off and went to help Ranma.

Not pausing for a second, Tio swept forward and carefully but quickly knocked all the cats attacking Ranma away and mentally making them disappear. After clearing all the little beasts off her charge, she examined him carefully. He was pretty beat up, scratches and bleeding everywhere. She couldn't just make him better, that would cause more problems then it would solve, and she cursed herself for not learning to make a human form properly, hybrid form would probably still scare him, but it was better then her full form.

Dreamscape -Ranma

Ranma was shivering on the cold ground, keeping his face hidden. The scratches he had hurt, but the cats had stopped clawing at him. That wasn't really a good sign. It usually meant that they were waiting for him to look up so they could try and get his eyes. He resisted the urge to look up, he knew better. He would just stay on the ground in a ball, and eventually the cats would go away. His father may come and get him sometime tomorrow if he was lucky. They were just waiting there to get him. He knew it.

"It's ok young one, they won't botherr you any more." Ranma heard a voice say. It was strangely comforting. He wasn't fooled. The felines had probably found a monster or something to finally get him. "It's ok, I won't hurt you, I promise." As much as Ranma didn't want to believe the voice, he found a part of him doing so. But he still didn't move. "It will all be all right, little one." In his chest, he wanted to believe the voice, but it was the same feeling remembered having around his mother, what few memories he had of her. But used to be the same way with his father, and look what he had done to him. "Rremember your old friend Ranma? Pamiu?" Ranma twitched a little. "Rrremember how you used to play with Pamiu, how you both had such fun together?" He had tried to forget about Pamiu. Ranma's eyes started to water. "Both you grrew up from kittens together." Ranma remembered. And he sniffled a little. "You used to talk with him. Ranma, when you talked with Pamiu, you weren't pretending. You were really talking to him." Ranma's eyes started to water up. He stayed curled in his small little ball. He remembered his talks. He remembered having one with Pamiu in front of his father, and then leaving home on the training trip shortly after. "Do you know what I'm talking about?" Ranma nodded, and started to cry a little. Dangit. Men weren't supposed to cry. "You have a special gift... I want you to make me a prromise, can you make me a prrromise Ranma?" Ranma nodded again. He didn't know why he was going to make a promise to this nice person, just that it felt right. "Your going to go to sleep, and most-likely forget all about this, or lock the memory away. But what I want you to do, is everry time you get scared like you arre now, I want you to think of your friend Pamiu. Can you prromise me that?" Ranma thought for a second the gave a short nod of his head. "Thank you Ranma."

Ranma heard whoever it was turn, and start to leave. He just couldn't let them go. But he couldn't uncover his eyes to look, the cats could still get them if he showed them. "W-wait," he had to know who he was talking to "W-who are you?"

"I'm Tio, your guardian. Get some sleep, kitten."


	5. Chapter 4

The Real World

The Guide had finally gotten the boy into his cottage and in a futon. It was a pain dragging honored young customer across the valley, doubly so because the guide was not that big. He almost fell into a couple of springs when young customer kept changing weight. Still, he had been able to get him back to the hut without help, and was currently looking for some paper to take notes down on. This kind of occurrence needed to be recorded, and probably witnessed. Thinking about it for a few minutes, sent his daughter off to the nearby Amazon village to fetch an elder; they were knowledgeable and may be able to help. If nothing else, it would be good to have one around when young customer finally woke up.

Young customers form still gave him a headache when the guide looked at him and his eyes seemed to slide off his form, although it seemed to be lessening. That was a good sign. As he dried off his form should become obvious as the magic worked itself out.

He was interrupted from his search as the Genma came striding in the room, consuming a bowl of soup. The guides eyebrow twitched; that was his soup. "Hey Guide, you were right. Hot water does reverse the curse. Doesn't seem like such a curse to me, I even see potential in learning how to fight in different forms! Wake up boy! Time to train more!" so saying, Genma dumped the rest of his soup on Ranma.

"No-No Very Bad! No do that mister customer! Curse not go away with hot water! Only temporary fix. Cold water turn you right back!" the guide said.

"What? Well why didn't you say so?" Genma said.

The guide would have replied that he did, in fact, say so, but he was to busy regarding the form of young honored customer, who was currently haziness and indistinctness had currently grown to a much greater magnitude level. Honored customer had gotten Honored younger customer wet again. 'oy.

Dreamscape - Unknown

"Ah Tio, it is good to see you again. How are things fairing?"

"Not to well, My Goddess."

"Tio, I don't know how many times we've had this little talk. If you call me 'My Goddess' or 'Your Majesty' or something else like that one more time, I can't be held accountable for what I may do. For goodness sakes Tio, I held you as a kitten and helped raise you."

Tio hung her head. "Yes, Bastet-Sama"

"You couldn't resist the honorific, could you?" Bastet sighed. "So, why are things not fairing so well? Has something happened to your charge?

"Rranma rran into Jusenkyo. Harrd." Tio said.

"Oh… how bad off is he? I hope he didn't turn into some mongrel like Anubis. That would just make his day. " Bastet said

"Um, I don't know yet." Tio said. "He fell in a couple of springs, and ended up soaking in one. The magic is still fighting over what form his curse will be."

"So he is in a state of flux still? Hmm, well then that's not so bad, we can work with that. Maybe a nice tabby form, or better yet, a Persian, hmm… "

"Umm, Bastet -Sama? Therrre is something you should know, I wasn't rreally able to help explain what happened to him because, well…" Tio trailed off, trying to find a way to explain it.

"The Neko-ken right? Grrrr. When I get my hands on that fat oaf there wont be enough left to toss in the pit. But I digress, Yes Tio, I know about Ranmas training with the Neko-ken. It isn't as big of a problem as some would make it out to be, really." Bastet said.

"It's not? But I was in therrre, the mental scaring is horrrr.. horrrr…bad." Tio said.

"No, it's not really that bad, I just looks it. Most of my first disciples learnt from the same method. With you there helping him, he should work through it and be fine. By the way, how did you get in his mind?" Bastet said.

"The barrrr… barrrr… walls werre weakened by the fighting of the currses. Some of the perrrsonality changing ones had opened them, but starrrted fighting each-otherrr beforre they could enter. I closed the hole when I left, Rranmas mind will stay his own." Tio said.

"Good thinking. I must be off if I'm to help Ranma with this little problem. I'll see if I can't pay back that favor from Inari. He would enjoy having an Avatar again. You should head back to Ranma, Tio. He needs you, don't leave his side."

"Yes, Bastet-Sama."

The Real World 

"_Ah, Elder Ku Lon. It is good to see you. I'm glad you came."_ The guide said in mandarin. _"Please step inside."_

"_It's good to get out of the village every now and again. By the way, your daughter ran all the way, she would make a fine warrior. Now what is this concerning a 'Stupid panda and boy who bounces on springs'?" _The Elder said. She hoped off her cane and stepped into the guides hut.

"_That's correct. His father bounced him through several springs I'm not sure how many, he came to a rest but didn't actually drown in the last. He is right over there, behind the fat man eating all my soup."_ the Guide said.

"_Let me guess, he can't understand a word of Chinese. Sigh." _The Elder said. "We should continue in a language your… guest can understand. Hello, I'm Ku Lon, elder of the Amazon tribe near here."

"Huh?" Gemna said, realizing for the first time that there was someone else in the room. Upon seeing Cologne he froze.

Cologne walked up to Genma and snapped her fingers in his face. "Anyone in there?"

Whatever reaction she was expecting, Genma shouting "AHH IT'S THE MASTER! AND HE HAS HAIR!" and then jumping out the window was not it.

"Thank you Elder for getting rid of Customer. Almost eat all food." The guide said

"Well, I guess that takes care of that problem. Maybe he will trip and drown in a pool." Cologne said.

"We can hope." The guide said.

Hoping over to the blurry form of Ranma, Cologne eyed him closely. "Hmm, you've been taking notes I assume. May I see them?"

"Of course, honored elder, here they are." The guide handed her a small book.

Flipping though the book, reading it quickly, she went back and took a second look at Ranma. Her physical eyes couldn't actually see anything there, only a presence. That was normal for the instant of the switch when a cursed one would get splashed. Using her aura and chi sight, however, she saw a confused cacophony of forms and flows that seemed to overlap and wrap around each other, looking like glowing, twisty paths. That was not normal. Usually a persons curse integrated with their ki and chi flows, which was why it was so hard, to the point of impossibility, to remove it. Over time, the curse would take on overflow ki from the cursed, and incorporate it into itself. If the cursed individual lived long enough, the curse would eventually fully combine with the person, and become theirs to control. Most didn't realize the control, they just never wished to have their cursed form again, and so it never appeared. When Cologne looked at Ranma, what she saw stunned her. Most of the interweaving lines of individual curses fought over what would attach itself to Ranmas being near the "surface", but as she watched, a new golden path emerged from 'below', beyond her perception, and immediately, ignoring all the other curses, attached itself to Ranma. Limbs appeared off the path and seemed to touch specific other curses, twining those in with itself and with Ranma.

Amazingly she saw Ranma's own core ki twist and flow around the newly introduced lines. Already Cologne could see some of Ranma's excess ki flow into the new pathways. For the life of her, it looked like some of those new lines belonged there. She had never seen anything like it. As she pulled back and re-asserted her physical sight, she noticed that the other curses, the ones that had been fighting on the 'surface', were fading away.

"Can you do anything for poor young honored customer?" the guide asked, when he noticed the elder come out of her trance.

"I might have been able to affect which curse, or curses finally won out, but I dare not try anything now. In all experience, I have never even heard of something like this happening. His core ki just accepted an intrusion like it belonged there. It was like watching someone cut a babies umbilical-cord in reverse." Cologne said, Writing notes down in the book. She was worried for the boy. She saw the strength and goodness in him when she peered into his inner-flows. She could tell he was a prime specimen…. Hmm if he didn't come out so bad she may have to set him up with her great-granddaughter.

"Whatever was going on, it's starting to reconcile itself. He already looks more distinct. I want to get him back to the village to keep him under observation. He going to be very confused when he wakes up. Do me a favor guide? If his father shows up again, don't tell him where he is." She said. Picking up Ranma, she then turned and hoped on her cane, holding him in a fireman's carry.

The guide grinned. "I direct him to Musk, maybe Phoenix." Cologne burst out laughing at that. She was still giggling halfway back to the village.

Dreamscape – Ranma

Ranma was slowly waking up from his nap. He was in that area of sleep, that was just on the edge of consciousness between true sleep and wakefulness. He was comfy, just sleeping, and being warm. He couldn't remember the last time he got to sleep in, with his father kicking him out of bed every morning.

In his half-asleep state, Ranma's mind registered hearing a sigh, but noted it as only a curiosity. Ranma felt a slight tremor in the ground he was sleeping on. Great, it would figure pop's had set up camp around a volcano. His danger sense would warn him if there was any danger. He rolled over and pushed himself further into his blanket. _… wait a sec…_

"'Giggle'." Ranma froze. Pops didn't giggle. Snapping to a higher level of awareness, Ranma realized several things. One; the blanket that he was currently sleeping on up in wasn't a blanket at all. Two; the reason he was warm wasn't because of his own body heat. Three; he recognized that voice from somewhere, but couldn't quite place it.

Being trained by Genma, however harsh, did have advantages however. His body immediately started to fake his sleep pattern, while his mind started to think of a way out of whatever mess he was in now. Ranma didn't _feel_ any threatening intentions, if anything he felt the opposite, but that didn't mean anything. Until he knew more, or was forced to do something he would stay there. Besides, it was kind of comfy.

"'Giggle'." He heard the voice hovering over him. "So peaceful when you sleep. Just like a kitten. 'Sigh'" the voice turned away with the sigh. "Kittens. I hope to have some of my own someday. To be able to watch them grow up... someday maybe." Ranma could tell that even though the voice had an odd pitch to it, it was female. "It's just, that I don't think I'll everr find a mate. None of the ones at home seem interested with me. Huh, guess no-one wants to be frriends with someone who can't even save theirr charge from a scraped knee." Ranma could hear the sadness in the voice.

The only sound Ranma could hear was breathing and a heartbeat. Thum-thump. Thum-thump. Ranma kept his eyes shut. The option of opening his eyes and confirming his fears was no option at all. He would just ignore it. Think of better things, happier times. Like the time before the training trip… gods, had it been so long since he had a truly good memory? Before the trip, he remembered getting up every day, at sunrise, and going out and playing with his friend. What was his name? Pamiu. Yea, he and Pamiu would go out every day and play together. They would go exploring, play hide and seek, and even steal food from mom together. How could he have forgotten about his friend? There was something about Pamiu, now that Ranma was able to remember him. Something a little off. It had always made Pamiu different from the other kids his age, but for the life of him, Ranma couldn't think of what it was.

"You know, you'rre the first human that my goddess has given a guarrdian in over two thousand years." He heard her start talking again. "'Snort.' Some guarrdian. I'm supposed to help guide you, help make your life better, and what do I do? I get you thrown into a pit of starving cats." Ranma involuntarily twitched at the word. "Oh you poor thing. Can't you even get away from that pit in your dreams? Look at me, I even hurt you when you're asleep. I'll have to get Bastet-sama someone more competent to replace me, I'm worthless." She started to move to get up.

"No you're not." Ranma couldn't stand it anymore. This…this, this person was pouring their heart out to him, even if they didn't think he could hear them. So many of the emotions that Ranma felt he heard echoed by this person. The pain of not having any friends, or being allowed to have friends, was a deep scar for Ranma, and he felt the loneliness and rejection in her voice too. Here was someone who could understand him, he hoped, not like his father who only hit him. Maybe he would have to leave her like he did all the others, but they both could use a friend right now. "I m-mean, your not, ya know, Worthless. Don't ever think that, no one is ever Worthless." Ranma said from his position in her lap.

"Oh my! Y-you'rrre awake." Her surprised voice replied.

Ranma still held his eyes closed "Y-yea, I am. But your not worthless, dun ever say that. I can tell you're trying ta help."

"I try to help you, but every time I just end up making things worse for you." The voice said

"But it was you that went and changed my memory about the C-c-ca-hole, right?"

"You mean you rememberrr that? You weren't supposed to, I guess it's just something else I've done wrrrong, I am so sorrry." He could hear she was about to start crying

"NoNoNo! Please don't cry. You didn't do anything wrong, it's just the other memories don't quite line up. But what you did works! C-c-ca-ca- felines don't make me as afraid as I used to be! Really."

"You are so sweet kitten, you have a big hearrt, but you don't need to lie for me, I know when to quit and go home. You can't even look at me because of what I've done to you. I'll find someone else that will be able to help you better."

He could feel her get up and hear her turn and start to walk away. He screwed his eyes shut tighter. He knew if he didn't look, he wouldn't freek, but if he didn't do something she would go away feeling horrible, and he knew it would be all his fault. He had to do something. He could not let someone with that much heartache just walk away. Not without trying everything he could to help.

"Wait!" he shouted. He heard her stop and look at him. He knew exactly where she was standing, though he didn't know why. Listening he heard her take a breath to give a final farewell, but he beat her to the punch.

Ranma opened his eyes.

Standing before Ranma was what he could, at that moment, only describe as a magnificent, radiant creature. With bright green eyes rapidly widening in apprehension, She stood tall, around seven feet, with tawny golden fur covering her body, the same color of fields of grain on a clear day. Stripes of rich dark brown marked her arms, legs, and back while more of the rich color cascaded off her head in a waterfall of hair. Lighter colored fur marked her eyebrows.

Then it hit Ranma, the fear. But he held on. He had felt the desperate need of this person. He couldn't give in. it would ruin everything. He wouldn't give in. he wouldn't. It was a living, breathing, thinking person, not a monster coming to get him. He would not let the fear win, not this time. For this one that cared so much, he couldn't afford to.

"Ranma? Are you all right?" her voice called out, filled with hope and fear at the same time. She had turned to more fully face him. Dang, but that was a b-b-big feline. A b-big feline with b-b-big claws, and b-big teeth, and b-b-big … crying eyes. Ranma felt his heart wrench.

"Y-y-yea. I'm g-good. Hi m-my name is Ranma. Wanna be friends?"

"Hello Ranma, my name is Tio. I would love to be you're friend."


	6. Chapter 5

The Real World

Cologne sat in her hut regarding the figure before her. The haze surrounding the boy was slowly receding, and according to her references that meant the curses had sorted themselves out and were 'laying in roots' as it were. But at least it _was_ receding, that was a good sign. She had read accounts of people who never turned back, eventually dissipating to nothing; evaporating like water. Thankfully that didn't appear to be happening, but he had indeed picked up several curses that were tightly intertwined. She didn't even know the boys name, poor child, but she knew his life would never be dull again.

Still, at the rate it was going away it would be hours, perhaps days, until the mist fully left. She had already missed most of the tournament her great-granddaughter was fighting in by staying here and watching the boy. There had been no real change in his condition since her observation at the guides hut earlier that day, and she was getting board with watching him lay there. _Hmm, he should be fine laying there alone for a bit. _Cologne reasoned. _If I hurry, I can watch Shampoo finish her last match_.

Cologne took one last look at the boys form, then hopped on her staff and bounced out the door. She left just in time to miss the blur around his body start to rapidly pull in.

Dreamscape – Ranma

Ranma was feeling fairly content at the moment. He was leaning against Tio's side while she lay on the ground. It was a different experience for Ranma. Most of Ranma's interactions with other people consisted either of Genma beating on him for some reason or another or some Sensei teaching him, then Genma beating on him afterward. Just sitting with someone, spending time and doing nothing, was a new thing for Ranma, and he was finding that it was kind of... nice.

He was glad Tio had accepted his offer of friendship. He had too few friends, and were often forced to leave them. Sure she was a half-cat. A half-cat with claws. And fangs. Ranma sighed. _And_ _big eyes, and a big heart too_. Whenever he started to feel the fear get bad and enter the loop that eventually spiraled down to the Neko-ken, memories of his old childhood friend Pamiu would always pop up. That always seemed to calm him down, though he still couldn't place what made Pamiu different from all the other kids in the neighborhood. That was another thing he owed Tio. He could feel the path that lead to the Neko-ken in his mind, but he could turn away now. With luck, and baring pits of hungry c-c-ca-cats, he might never go Neko-ken again.

Sighing again, but in contentment this time, he leaned back further. Tio was still purring softly, an amazingly soft and surprisingly natural sound. It had freaked him out at first, until she explained what it meant. They had talked for a while after that, mostly about little nothings. Ranma felt a sort of connection with Tio that he never felt with anyone else except for maybe his mother, what little he could remember. Suddenly he felt Tio shift.

"Is everything alright?" Ranma asked.

"Hmm," Tio said, looking around. "I thought I felt…"

"What? What did you feel?" Ranma asked.

"I think our time is over, you'rre going back." Tio said.

"What? Are you sure? I want to stay here with you. I've already had to leave too many friends, I don't want to leave another!" Ranma said.

"Kitten, we arre not actually leaving each other , we just can't stay like this. It wouldn't be healthy for eitherrr of us." Tio said.

"But why? Can we see each other? Why am I leaving?" Ranma asked.

"Because kitten, you arrre waking up. This place we'rre in is rreally just a part of yourr subconscious. Your conscious mind rrretreated here when you werre knocked into too many cursed sprrings and the currses started to fight each otherr." Tio explained. "Some of the currses change the way you think. They do it by tearring down your mental barrr…barr…walls and enterring your mind to change things. They starrted fighting each otherr before one actually entered, but the hole was still therre. I put a patch on it, but I had to be 'inside' to do it prroperrrly. Now that you arre waking up, your mind will fix the hole on its own, but I don't think eitherrr of us wants me stuck inside yourrr mind when it does, even if the company is good.

"Oh… I u-understand." _Not really_. "We can see each other again though, right?" Ranma said.

"I'm surre therre is some way, but I don't know what it would be, we arre on different planes. Rrememberrr I'll be watching, and helping where I can." Tio said. Ranma could see Tio was turning transparent before him and he could feel her presence leaving.

"Goodbye Tio, I'll see you soon." Ranma called to the disappearing figure. Tio just smiled as she faded completely out.

"I'll find some way to find you again T-chan." Ranma said, as he too started to fade out.

The Real World

Ranma sat up suddenly. He was in a bed. The bed was in a room. He was in a bed, in a room. He was clenching the sheets. That was different. Usually he woke up in a ditch or huddled in a bowl of a tree.

He tried to remember what happened, but everything was fuzzy with sleep. Last thing he remembered was hopping around on the bamboo poles fighting his father. He remembered his father jumping, Ranma seeing his weak right feint, and his own maneuver that knocked his father into a spring. He remembered turning. He remembered saying something to his father. He remembered a panda jumping out of the springs and attacking him.

Analyzing his memories, he remembered that the panda was using what appeared to be Anything Goes in its attacks, and he was sure he had never seen a kick like that one besides him and his father. Some small voice in the back of his mind whispered that there was someone there shouting about cursed springs, but Ranma didn't remember anyone else being there. Then he remembered getting hit by the panda, remembered bouncing of what had to be the surface of one of the springs… hmm, he hadn't been skipped across water since he was nine, and that was when his father used a … reverse triple inverted spin-kick? That was the same move the panda… wait cursed springs? _That panda was pop!_ _Grrr, pops is so getting turned into a wall rug when I get my hands on him. _

While he was on his internal tirade about filleted panda, and getting more and more irate, Ranma Chi started to shift into a more emotional state. Unbeknownst to Ranma, while he was getting angry he started to change. His canines elongated slightly, his ears became slightly pointed and his fingernails started to taper into points. _Ohh-kay, calm down. Gotta remember what happened after that, calm down…_ As Ranma calmed down, the changes disappeared.

So he hit the springs. He remembered that. Funny, just sitting here looking at himself he didn't look different. Certainly no panda arms flailing about. Maybe he got lucky and didn't get a curse? No, not with his luck, he was liable to have picked up every curse in the place. So what curse did he get? He was sure he had one. He hoped he didn't turn into something like a grasshopper. That would just plain suck.

Hmm, he bounced across a coupla springs, then blank… nothing. It felt like there was a gap there, something he should remember but wasn't. Slowly Ranma pulled himself into a sitting meditation stance on the bed, and entered a meditative trance. He knew that if his father caught him doing this he would get the beating of his life, but the feeling that he was missing something was just too great to ignore.

Ranma was glad that his father had gotten food poisoning at that one monastery in the hills, forcing them to stay there long enough to get snowed in. Not that they couldn't have left at any time they wanted to, but his father was lazy and didn't want to go out across the deep snow. Still, the monks there had been more then happy to teach Ranma their art. Genma was less then enthused. The monks practiced a passive combat art that focused heavily on meditation and avoiding conflict. Genma had thought that the monastery was a secret training place for warriors; gods above know where he got that idea, and was disappointed when he learned that it wasn't. While they were snowed in, Ranma started to learn under the masters, but kept it a secret from his father. Genma had told Ranma not to practice their art, calling it a weak, inferior, and woman's thing, not to be practiced by men. Ranma didn't believe his father, but couldn't convince him to change his mind. Shortly before they were going to leave, Genma got food poisoning, and they got snowed in. Ranma was happy to stay and study, even if he had to keep it a secret from his father. When they finally left he was still a rank novice in regards to what the masters could do, but Ranma was still able to give both his physical and spiritual self a decent analysis.

Searching himself for a bit while in a trance, Ranma couldn't find anything that would lead to the feeling of something being off. He was about to exit his trance when he felt a tug. It was a small tug, but if felt… familiar somehow. He followed the tug deeper into himself, further then he had ever gone before. It was becoming difficult to maintain his concentration this deep. Still, the familiar feeling he was having grew stronger. Feeling himself come close to his destination, he focused himself, solidifying his position in his mind. Finally he came across what he could only call a construct in his mind. He had seen nothing like it ever before. It for the life of him looked like a few bent and rusty I-beams and rotting planks and sheets of wood piled on the ground. It was very messy to look at/feel. He noticed it was blocking off a few of the pathways in his mind that to him felt like memories.

Ranma remembered reading something about memory blocking constructs from one of the books at the monastery, and the description in the book almost matched the description of what he was seeing/feeling to a Tee, except that what he read in the book described a much more clean and solid structure. Ranma didn't have a clue as to who would have been able to put such a thing in his mind.

Forcefully, Ranma ripped the barrier apart. The pieces fell apart and dissolved into nothingness, but Ranma didn't notice as memory assaulted him. He was catapulted out of his meditative trance. Memories of home. He never knew what it looked like. Memories of his mother. He remembered the warm feeling he got when he was little and she would hug him. Memories of his life before the training trip, of friends and places. Of Genma using one his masters trinkets on him just after they left on the training trip, and him, in a panic, forgetting the memories he was just now remembering. He remembered his friend Pamiu. Of playing and having fun. Memories of Pamiu lead to memories of that dark, cold pit. Remembering the pit, he remembered that one time that the cats didn't claw him. He remembered someone saved him that time. _Tio…_

Ranma was mad. Ranma was beyond mad. Ranma was angry. Really angry. His heart started beating harder and his Chi started to heat up rapidly. As his Chi started to show in a small aura around him, Ranma shifted. It was a fast shift, and he felt himself change. It was the strangest feeling he had ever felt, and couldn't become close to describing it. He was hot and cold, wet and dry, stretched and squashed at the same time. And then it was over. Ranma was entirely disoriented. He had been really angry, but now when he felt for the anger he just felt drained. All his senses were out of whack too. He could smell whose room he was in, and tell that they were female. He could hear a bird taking off from the building next door. His eyes felt weird, but he could see as well as normal. It felt like he had a coat on as well. _My butt really hurts too._

Ranma slid off the bed and tried to stand up, but fell flat on his face. His balance was all off. His rear was really hurting him now, so he reached back to try and feel if there was anything wrong. What he felt defiantly register in his mind as wrong. Needing a visual confirmation, Ranma pulled the offender around into his line of sight. _Yeap, that's a tail, all right. Yea sir buddy, that's a tail, and hoo boy, I think that's **my** tail._ Yank-yank. _Ow. Yeap, definitely my tail. What am I doing with a tail! Ok, don't panic, there is a perfectly logical explanation for all this, like I'm dreaming. Yea, that's gotta be, it's a dream. _Then Ranma saw a mirror hanging on the wall. _I-I-I'll just look_ _in the mirror, and I'll see myself, just like all the other dreams. Then I can wake up. _

Ranma shakily stood up on his two feet … scratch that, on his two paws. _Not gonna panic. Not gonna panic. Not gonna panic._ Ranma started walking towards the mirror, unsteady. _Just gotta look at myself. Its like all the other dreams. This has happened before. I wake up as some c-c-ca- feline monster, look at a mirror, see myself, and then I wake up. I'll do it again, and everything will be all right. _As he walked he started to unconsciously use his tail to adjust his balance. Ranma made it to the mirror without falling on his face again, but what he saw when he looked in made him freeze.

The face that was looking back from the mirror wasn't the one he grew up with, and not nearly the one he expected looking back at him. The same blue eyes looked back but that was the only thing unchanged. His face was covered in black fur. He had cat ears on top of his head. Cat ears covered in black fur. He had a snout. It was a big snout, covered in black fur. He had two huge fangs coming out of his mouth at the front of his snout. They were big, white, six inch fangs. His fangs weren't covered in fur. His crystal blue eyes stared back at him from under an umbrella of black hair hanging down over them. He stood gaping at himself, which probably wasn't the best choice because it gave an excellent view of his fangs and other various pointy teeth._ N-not g-gonna p-p-panic. N-not g-gonna p-p-panic._ _N-not g-gonna p-p-panic._ Ranma continued to stare at himself repeating his mantra, regardless of the fact that repeating it like he was, in itself, a form of panicking.

The only thing that kept Ranma from totally losing his sanity were his eyes. Even with the rest of him changed, they were still his, still the same they had always been. They were the same eyes he had grown up with. They were eyes that showed intelligence and meaning, not beast eyes. Tio had the same sort of eyes. _S-so does that mean I'm like Tio or something? _

Ranma was broken out of his contemplation as the door to the room opened. Startled, Ranma dropped into a defensive stance. However, standing in the door way was not something he was expecting. He could hear her heart from across the room. He could tell it was a fighter's heart. She stood in a formfitting outfit accentuating her dangerous curves. Long purple hair tumbled down in waves. Light from outside was streaming in through the doorway, seeming to create a glow around her. The effect was stunning.

The effect was somewhat ruined however, when the beauty pulled out a pair of huge maces and took a threatening aggressive stance.

"_Who are you? What are you? Are You Musk!_" She Commanded in Chinese.

"What? I don't underrrstand you." Ranma said. His voice sounded deeper then it had before and rolling his r's.

"_What did you do to the boy Great-Grandmother brought home! _" She shouted, again in Chinese.

"I-I'm sorrrry, I don't underrrrstand." Ranma flinched back. Whether he flinched because of his voice or the threatening gesture the girl made he wasn't quite sure.

"_I wont ask again; Who are you, what are you doing in my room, and where is that boy? I bet you ARE a Musk!" _The girl was clearly quite agitated. Ranma paused to think of a way to try and communicate with the girl, but apparently he took to long in thinking of a way.

Further contemplation by Ranma was cut short as the girl suddenly rushed forward faster then Ranma was expecting. Really fast. She had crossed to him in almost no time flat and was already swinging her weapons at him. He did not want to get hit by those, it looked like it would hurt. Falling back on instinct, Ranma leapt strait up and grabbed the ceiling. The girl, surprised by the move and thrown off balance, went sailing past into, and partially through the wall.

Ranma dropped down from the ceiling and landed on his feet. He slowly backed towards the door, stumbling a little. He hadn't felt this clumsy since he had his last concussion.

"Wait, I don't want to fight!" Ranma said.

"_Shut up and die monster!"_ the girl replied as she pulled herself out of the wall and took another swing at him. Ranma managed to dodge the first few swings, but one managed to get through with his precarious balance. The blow hurt less then Ranma was expecting, but he was still propelled through the door, down the stairs beyond, skidded a good way down the hallway at the bottom. Getting up again, Ranma could hear a frustrated scream coming from up the stairs.

"_What's going on out here?_" an old voice asked to Ranma's side.

"AHH It's a MUMMY on a STICK." Ranma screamed when he saw who was speaking, it was a shriveled up little gnome of a person, barely a foot and a half high, perched on top of a staff.

"Respect your Elders' boy." Was Colognes reply as she promptly bashed him on the head with her staff. Then she started eyeing Ranma's form.

They both turned and looked down the hall as the sound of a freight train descending became apparent. The sound resolved itself into the purple-haired warrior as she landed at the bottom of the stairs. Seeing Ranma, charged again.

"That's it, I'm leavin' this frrreek house." Ranma turned and ran out the door behind him, the purple haired girl hot on his heals.

"Sigh. Youngsters…" Cologne said. "Nothing but hormones and hot heads."

"True." A second figure agreed as it exited the doorway Cologne had been standing it. "Do you think its wise to let shampoo go after him like that in his state?"

"I don't see a problem with it Soap. There's not much she can do to hurt him. He could stand to learn how to use that body properly too." Cologne said.

"Learn how to use his body? I though Jusenkyo endowed it's victims with the knowledge of how to use their bodies" Soap said.

"It does. That half-cat form you saw he had? That's not a Jusenkyo curse. I got a good 'look' at him while he was standing there, and that forms completely natural to him. It's been a while since I've seen one of his kind." Cologne said.

"Wait, 'One of his kind?' what do you mean by that?" Soap asked.

"Ever hear of a were-wolf? Same kind of thing with Mr. Cat-boy there. The odd thing is, he doesn't seem to know what he is, nor have ever been in his were form before." Cologne said.

"Ok, with the Musk and Phoenix, I can accept were-wolfs and were-cats. But what about his curse?" Soap said.

"Hmm? Oh, right, his curse. I had forgotten about that." Soap face-faulted. "I guess we better go out there and calm them down before the entire village gets riled."

AN

's all for now, More in the works. I wanted to make this chapter longer, but I had to balance that with regular updates. Comments and criticisms are appreciated.


	7. Chapter 6

A.N. hope you're all ready for a twist

"What the heck?" Ranma said. Which was probably the wrong thing to say, as it attracted more attention to himself. He was standing in the middle of a village street, with houses around and people looking at him. Actually, the fact that he had said anything or not had no effect at the attention he was getting at that point. There was a healthy number of strongly built women with odd colored hair toting a large variety of pointy or smashie objects standing around the street.

They stood there, staring at each other, Ranma and the Amazons . The Amazons with wide eyes and slowly reaching for their weapons, Ranma's face showing surprise. This was a bad thing, being that the look of surprise for Ranma's current form looked much like the look you get when you're being pounced on by a thousand pound predator. The final nail of the coffin was hammered in when a purple haired Amazon burst from the doorway Ranma just exited, showering the area with wood splinters, shouting a war cry.

Ranma tried to think of something to say to calm every one down, but all the came out was a quite "Oh damn," before all the Amazons charged at once. "To heck with this. I'm outta here." So saying Ranma made an unsteady jump to the nearest roof. Not that it deterred the Amazons in the least. All fifteen or so jumped right up after him. Ranma ran, and the Amazons followed.

Unsteady with his balance, Ranma found it hard to keep ahead of the mob of girls. _Jeez, what'd I do to them?_ Ranma thought as he landed in a role from a particularly bad leap. Taking a quick jump to the left, he barely avoided a spear as it imbedded itself in the roof where he had just been. Still, he was adapting, and jumps and landings were becoming easy surprisingly fast. _I'm just happy they haven't figured-out to throw things until now._ With how clumsy he had been in the past few minutes, he would have been a rug on some wall for sure.

Ranma's choice in directions to escape probably could have been better however. The path that he chose took the longest rout across the Amazon village. By the time that he saw the far wall the mob chasseing him had grown to well over thirty Amazons , not counting the occasional pot-shot from an Amazon with a bow. Looking ahead, Ranma saw several Amazons collecting on the wall.

They were herding him into a trap! The bad thing was, there wasn't much he could do about it. Seems like they've done this sort of thing before. They were spread out before and behind him. One would slow him down if he changed directions and the others would then converge. One of the angry women he was sure he could take, even with his new body. Heck, he could probably take a good four or five at once, but that was nowhere near what he needed. Trying a high jump over them probably wouldn't work, they would probably be able to the same thing seeing as how they could roof hop, and besides he wasn't sure he could manage it correctly right now. He was quickly running out of ideas and space to run.

"_Don't worry my beautiful Shampoo, I'll save you from the monster._" Ranma heard a masculine voice shout from behind him. He felt a tickling sensation at the back of he head, like he always had gotten when his father was about to pull a surprise attack, but it was extremely strong this time. Ranma jumped quickly straight up.

While he was in the air, a massive volley of chains and ropes, along with an assortment of other pointy objects, passed beneath him._ No way that was from one guy!_ Ahead of Ranma, the flying chains and ropes flew into the guards along the wall, entangling them. Not looking a gift-horse in the mouth, he went bounding past the entangled guards and out into the clearing beyond. The Amazons still followed him past the wall, screaming blood and murder.

Having some more space and already employing the dreaded Saotome final technique, i.e., run away, Ranma employed his newly created revised version of the technique;_ Saotome secret final technique Advanced! Run-away faster!_ Ranma's form blurred as he sped up. _I'm going faster than I should. _Ranma looked back to see that he was quickly out-pacing most of the Amazons, and even the fastest were falling behind. What Ranma didn't see while looking behind himself was the branch.

Crunch!

Today just wasn't a good day for him. It wasn't really a good day for the branch either, seeing as how all that was left of it was kindling. Ranma was doing a good impression of a moto-cross racer as he wiped out and slid along the ground. Flailing through some bushes, Ranma managed to role to his feet. Unsteadily, and with a pounding head, he stumbled away deeper into the woods.

Regaining his wits and hearing the Amazons closing in on his position, he took off running this time, more observant of his surroundings. Using his new found since of hearing, he kept track his pursuers, evading them until he was able to put some good distance between them and himself.

He was confused. What was that village and those people, where was he, where was pop, and most importantly, what the hell happened to him? He couldn't figure it out. He remembered his talk with Tio. She explained how the Neko-ken really was a training technique for training warrior of her goddess to have more catlike feature. It had been banned because it was inhumane they had found better ways of achieving the same effect. _Nothing she said about actually changing into a c-ca-ca-cat though, even partway. _Ranma mulled over his problems as he ran deeper into the forest. First he would lose his pursuers, find his pop, and then get changed back. Stopping for a quick breath, he turned and listened behind him. At least the ears were good at tracking things. Listening he found four birds, some mice, and a monkey. He also heard a stream off to his right. Nothing tailing him.

Ranma decided he could use a drink and turned towards the stream. Coming out of the brush, he found a small stream about seven feet across with quickly flowing clear water and stone banks. Bending down, Ranma cupped his hands under the water and carefully brought it up and drank it. It was awkward to drink with a snout; he almost spilled the water all over himself. After finally getting the hang of it and drinking his fill, Ranma gave himself a closer examination. His gi was in near ruin from his escape and run. He took the top off and fingered a particularly large tear. _That was from the blue haired one with the ridiculously large arrows. I can't believe she could even lift those things; they were like telephone poles._ Deciding the top was a loss Ranma took off his pants and boxers to check them. The boxers were still in decent condition, but the pants were pretty torn up. _They would make better shorts then pants at this point… oh well. _

Ranma turned to self-examination. His entire body was covered in black fur. From head to toe... well paw. That was another thing, Ranma's 'feet' were closer to paws then actual feet. Poking at the bottoms he felt pads, and feeling along his toes... were those claws? Looking at his fingertips he saw that they tapered to points and part of it seemed to come out of the center of his finger… but didn't see anything like that on his feet. He did feel something there however. It would be nice to know if he was going to scratch the heck out of something and leave a trail if he was going to climb it. Bending over to look at his feet, he could see something sticking slightly of the front part of his toes. Grabbing his ankle for support, something reflexively twitched in his foot and claws shot out of his toes.

Startled, Ranma unthinkingly jumped up and back… right over the middle of the stream. _Just what I need. Wet fur. Joy._ Ranma thought he saw something with brightly colored hair emerging from the bush before he hit the water. _Great. Just freaking great … it's gotta be those girls again. I can't believe they snuck up on me. I must be getting careless. There shouldn't be more than a couple of them, maybe we can talk, and I should be able to handle a fight. _Ranma thought all this while his and their forms were obscured by the splash. Ranma would have considered swimming away, but the water was only knee deep. _Scratch that, its thigh deep. I'm really off today. Even my balance feels off again. _

Sloshing his way to the bank, Ranma realized that his center of balance had shifted again. Taking a quick look again at himself, he nearly froze up again. He had changed again. _Damn it, I do _not_ need this right now._ He still had fur from what he could see, but it had changed from black to a red auburn and he had white markings covering his chest, feet, and hands. His tail seemed a lot heaver now too, but it was probably from the water. _I don't think I can fight properly like this, I might hurt them if it comes to combat._

There were two Amazons standing next to the bush a little way down the bank, looking at Ranma with their weapons raised. There was one with teal hair, but the other had purple hair and looked very familiar to Ranma. _Great, the first one with the maces. She does not look happy._

"_Another monster? Couldn't be Musk."_ The purple haired one said in Chinese, but oddly Ranma was able to understand her.

"_Um, wait Xian Pu. I don't think that's just a normal monster_." The one with teal hair said. Ranma understood her to.

"_What are you talking about Dao Wel? She looks just like the fox demons that the Elders tell stories about_." Xian Pu said, tensing herself to attack. Ranma was slowly backing up, trying not to attract attention. Being able to understand them even when they were speaking a language that he knew for a fact he didn't know was a little to far out for him.

"_I don't think so. She's not a normal fox demon; she's a Japanese Kitsune I think. Look at her tails_." Ranma was about to take exception to being referred to as a female, but the other comments stopped him. _Kitsune? Tails? No… couldn't be... wouldn't be…_Reaching behind himself Ranma grabbed his tail. He had kinda grown accustomed to his cat's tail over the past couple of hours running, but this was different, the fur felt more coarse. Then he felt something else brush up against the back of his hand. Slowly he brought everything that was back there around to where he could see it._ Three tails… fox tails… hoo boy._ There were three, slightly damp, big, lush auburn tails with their ends dipped in white. That was when Ranma noticed something else that wasn't as it should have been. There were two mounds on his chest. They were covered in fur, but it was hard to mistake what they were. He had boobs.

With that realization, Ranma's mind had decided it had enough of the circus. Letting out a small whimper, Ranma's female kitsune form crumpled to the ground in front of two startled Amazons. Shampoo and Dowel stood there looking at the fallen from of the kitsune, looking a bit lost.

"_Um, we didn't kill it, did we?"_ Dao Wel asked.

"_Um, I hope not. That would be bad."_ Shampoo replied. "_So uh… do Kitsune eat people_?"

"_Don't you pay attention during lecture? A Kitsune is a native Japanese spirit fox. They're not malicious, usually. From what I remember, there supposed to be really rare. At least that's what the elders say. Um… They're also supposed to like to trick people._"

Shampoo walked over to the fallen figure and cautiously nudged it with her foot. Getting no response she became bolder. Nudging harder and reaching down and shakeing the kitsune produced no response. Shampoo grew worried. "_I don't think she's trying to trick us Doa Wel. We better find great-grandmother; she would know what to do."_

"_Do about what?"_ Cologne asked as she bounced from the woods.

"_Great-grandmother! I think we found a Kitsune, but it passed out._" Shampoo said.

"_We didn't do it_" Dowel chimed in.

"_Let me see it_." Cologne asked. The pointed over to the fallen figure and Cologne bounced over. "_Well it is defiantly a Kitsune._" Cologne told the two. "_Funny I thought they had all left._" She whispered to herself. "_Tell me exactly what happened."_

"_We were tracking the panther-man through the woods. Its tracks lead right here. We exited the woods and coming out from the middle of the stream was the Kitsune. She saw us, backed up a little, grabbed her tails, and them fell over." _Doa Wel explained.

"_Odd._" Cologne knew they were leaving some details out, but it didn't really matter. She could tell from analyzing the ki-lines that this Kitsune was actually the same boy from before. What she didn't get was how the boy could be both a were-cat _and_ a Kitsune. The female part she could understand. The boy _had_ been through Jusenkyo after all. But she was sure that the natural magic of Kitsune's would not allow them to be cursed by Jusenkyo. She was also sure that there was no spring of drowned Kitsune. What she was seeing before he wasn't some sort of clever fake or some compilation of curses, it was as far as she could tell a true-born Kitsune, with the magic-flows and all. _Damn, that complicates things._ _The boy is, as far as I can tell, a natural male were-cat, a natural a female Kitsune, and has at least one Jusenkyo curse, possibly more. What a mess. _

"_Girls, find a clearing and set up camp, it's too late to head back to the village now." _Cologne said.

"_But Great-Grandmother/Elder, what about the panther-man monster/Musk?" _the two asked.

"Don't _worry about him, child. All your questions will be answered in the morning. We must take care of our guest however._" Cologne said. She regarded the fallen form. _Yes, there will be some answers in the morning, but then there will be so many more questions. I fear I might have to pierce the shield to get them too. _Sighing, she went over and picked up the Kitsune, and hopped off in the direction the two young Amazons went in. "Seems I am carrying you everywhere these days" said quietly to herself and laughed.

A.N. Short chapter, I know. Working on more, so hold your horses. Anyway, I hope you like it so far. I do want to do a gold diggers cross, but I'm not as familiar with the series as I should be, my experience mainly comes from fan fiction, crossovers at that. If anyone knows a good resource site that I can get a handle on the gold diggers univers with I would appreciate it.

Many Thanks to all those who left comments.


	8. Chapter 7

Dreamscape

"Um…" Ranma said as he looked over the featureless gray landscape. The last thing he remembered was changing, _again_, knowing Chinese for some reason, then passing out… err, no. He didn't pass-out, rather he strategically retreated from reality.

"I'm really getting sick of this." Ranma commented to himself, before noticing something was wrong with his voice. The tone and inflections were the same, but the pitch was different, it sounded more smooth. Ranma crossed his eyes and looked for his nose. _Yeap. Big black nose sticking way out in front of my face… I don't think I can handle any more of this._ He was still a fox-...thing. That he could sorta handle. _If I didn't turn into a girl at the same time, it would beat the heck out of a being a Cat-thing (Even if I do have a friend that's like that.) _Well, whatever happened, he was _here_ again. Wherever here was. He was still iffy on the concept. Last time he was here had something to do with him having too many curses at once. _Stupid curses._ The only real question was how he got back here.

"If you keep yourr eyes crrossed like that there going to stick that way."

"WAAA!" Ranma jumped back clutching his chest. "Don't do that!" was Ranma automatic reply before he saw who was talking. Tio was standing in front of him in her hybrid form.

"Sorrry." Tio said. "I was trrying to get your attention earlier, but you didn't rrrespond. Anyways, you shouldn't be in this arrea."

"Huh? What do you mean Tio?" Ranma asked.

"This is a rreserved area, I don't know how you even got in herre. How do you know my name?" Tio said.

"What? Don't you recognize me?" Ranma said.

"No, I'm quite surre I don't know any Kitsune." Tio said.

"Kitsune? Oh, right, the body. It's me Tio, Ranma."

"No, Rranma is, numberr one a _were-pantherr_, and numberr two, is _male_. You are a thrree tailed, _female_, _Kitsune_. Now if we could just move along…" Tio said, making shooing motions.

"But, but, Tio, I really am Ranma, please, you gotta believe me!" Ranma pleaded. Tio took a good look at Ranma, seeming to think about something. Stepping forward she grabbed Ranma's shoulders and took a long look into Ranma's eyes.

"R-ranma, is that rreally you?" Tio asked, slightly scared.

"Yes, that is indeed Ranma." Tio's answer came from an unexpected source. Turning, both Tio and Ranma looked at the speaker. She was standing there covered in light tan fur and bearing a feline face. She wore a flowing white robe that didn't cover that much leaving her arms and enough leg exposed that Ranma thought for the first time in his life he might be getting a nosebleed. Golden bands of various designs circled her arms and legs, and Ranma could see that the tail gently swaying behind the woman also bore a golden band. Golden eyes looked back at Ranma, bracketed by tattoos half hidden under her facial fur. There was something just plain different about her, but Ranma couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"My lady." Tio bowed. Ranma just stood there gapping a little.

"Tio…" The figure said with a small growl in her voice.

"Yes Bastet-sa…" Tio started, but was cut off by a glare from the figure. "…err, -chan?"

"Much better Tio. I like the sound of that, 'Bastet-chan' has a nice ring to it. Now come here and give grandma a hug." Bastet said, sweeping Tio into a big bear-hug. Tio could only give Ranma a helpless look. Ranma looked back, at a loss for what to do. Finally, after it looked like Tio was going to pass out from asphyxiation, or embarrassment, Bastet let go and turned to Ranma.

"Um, Hi." Ranma said meekly.

"Hello Ranma, I must say, you look good in fur. I'm Bastet, Goddess First Class Unlimited." She said.

"Goddess? Really?" Ranma said meekly. "Umm, should I be on my knees, or err, something?" He could feal the authority and power radiating from the being before him and didn't doubt her claim.

"Yes, I am a real Goddess. Don't worry about it dear; just treat me like a normal person. I insist. Come here and have a seat, we have a lot to talk about." Gesturing to a spot on the ground, several pillows popped into existence. Bastet sat down and patted a pillow next to her. "You too Tio dear, have a seat. You know most of this already, but it doesn't hurt to hear it again." Ranma, at a loss for what to do, sat. Ranma yelped and had to sit up a bit to pull one of her tails out from under herself.

Once they were all sitting comfortably, Bastet made a small gesture in the air before her and shapes and images began to appear in a cloud. "This first part is mainly for Ranma." she explained to Tio. " I know you are frightened about what's happened to you Ranma." She ignored his comment about 'not being faid-o-nothing.' "I'm not aloud to tell you much, but hopefully I can give you some answers.

"Things in the past were actually different than what most of your historians believe. Well, to a certain point; they have most of the last of thousand years correct. But I digress; things were different. Humans weren't the only intelligent species by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, around this time humans were really a minority." As Bastet continued to talk she closed her eyes images appeared in the cloud. " There were hundreds of different races. Some were good, some evil, and some neutral. They came in all different shapes and sizes." At this point Ranma saw sever different beings in the cloud; most could be characterized as monsters. What caught his eye, besides the dragon, were the furry people. They looked normal compared to the other creatures he saw. "One of the most numerous set of people were the 'Weres.' They really weren't one people, more of a group title that all the other races referred to them as. All the different types of Weres had many things in common. They were in most ways the most similar races to humans as well. They could take a human form, or a fully animal one, but their natural one was somewhere in-between the two. Each type of Were could only change into one kind of animal, but they could still interbreed with each other."

Bastet shifted her seat a little and continued. "Things were good for a while. Most peoples got along well with each other, and there was little conflict. But there was a problem. Space was starting to run out. With so many different races and peoples covering the face of the planet, elbows were starting to rub. Tensions grew, and conflicts started to rise. It was only a matter of time, we feared. Then one day, after generations had passed, it did happen. War. It started small, like all the big ones do. Slowly it escalated, and grew and grew. Legions of people marching on each other, killing, maiming. It was a bad time. Powerful people came to the forefront to combat each other. Some used their natural abilities inherent to themselves, some created powerful devices, and others used pure magic. But a few used all of the above; they created fantastical devices with their abilities and powered them with magic. It was hoped by their creators that such devices would never be used, but as with your atomic bombs, they were. It only had to happen once.

"When the device was used, the forces involved were so powerful they pulled the world in two. The loss of life was tragic. I will never forget the day Terra screamed as she was ripped in two. When the dust settled, many, many peoples were dead, just simply gone. The rest were spread across two worlds, separated from their brothers and sisters, struggling to survive on ravaged terrain. Eventually over time, the planets recovered, and reestablished contact with each other. That is a story in and of itself.

"On the planet that would eventually become known as Earth, humans had come through with the strongest single force, and eventually spread across most of the remaining land masses. Most of the other races had either fallen below the point of being able to maintain themselves by reproduction, or found somewhere 'Else' to go. This 'Else' eventually became known as The Retreat. The flows of magic on the Earth were weak, unable to support many of the beings that needed them to survive. Years later, in an attempt to bring back the magic that had disappeared from the planet, another –weaker- device was used. It was not enough to bring magic back to the world as strong as it had been; in fact it remained but a shadow of its former glory. What it did do was open passable portals all around Earth to the other planet. By this time, most of the non human races were being crowded out by humans, who while could use magic, did not depend or require magic at all, and so were not weakened. It was decided that they would cross over to the other world, or go to the retreat, both of which had enough magic inherently in them to support their survival. The Weres, who had found a sort of peace with humanity, were reluctant to leave, but the chaotic expansion of the human race finally convinced them that life would be better on the new planet, the one called Jade.

"Not everyone left. Weres were the most common that stayed, but others stayed as well. As improbable as it sounds, it is possible, though difficult to interbreed almost any other race with a human. They stayed behind on earth with their families." Bastet opened her eyes and the illusion dispersed. "Then what you know of history more or less happened. And that brings us to you Ranma."

"M-Me?" Ranma thought he got the gist of what was being said, but was so busy trying to follow what Bastet was saying he was startled when she started talking to him directly.

"Yes, you might be surprised to know that you have received Were genetic material from both your parents. Normally this wouldn't mean anything, but the trait was so strong that certain features started to appear in you, such as your speed, grace, and quick healing, and a few other abilities." Bastet explained.

"But, that means… I'm not really human? And what do you mean by abilities?" Ranma asked.

"Don't be silly dear, of course you're human. Well, as human as the next person. The genetic material from the various species that had interbred with humanity so long ago is so spread out now that nearly every human has it. In fact nearly half your chromosomes contain nothing but that information." She explained.

"Chroma-What's-it?" Ranma said

"Never mind dear. Abilities like your ability to jump as high as you do untrained, and your ability to talk with cats. And don't claim you can't talk with cats." Bastet said.

"But I can't." Ranma said.

"Yes you can, remember Pamiu? Anyway," Ranma was going to ask her exactly what she meant about Pamiu, but she continued to talk. "I had taken notice of you when you were young. You caught my eye, you could say. I was interested in a human with so much cat in him. You would have had a normal life regardless of your differences if it weren't for _him_."

"Who?" Tio asked, while Ranma had a sinking feeling.

"That no-good lout Genma. I'm sorry to say that he is indeed Ranma's biological father. Him and that stupid training manual. I thought all those had been destroyed long ago."

"You mean the Neko-ken training manual?" Ranma asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry Ranma, I must apologize. If it wasn't for me, those manuals wouldn't exist. A few thousand years ago, people in Egypt worshiped me. In an effort to become more catlike, they developed a technique for bringing those qualities to the surface. The more Cat-Were in the persons ancestry, the more catlike they became, but it did horrible things to all parties minds. As soon as I found out about the practice, I personally banned it and commanded all manuals destroyed. But if I wasn't so visible in the first place, they would have never made the technique. If I did a better job in making sure all the manuals were destroyed, or did something more, you could have had a normal life. I am sorry." Upon saying that the goddess bowed low before Ranma.

Ranma was at a loss for what to do. He had never had anyone, let alone a Goddess apologize to him before. "Um, it's alright, really. If it wasn't the Neko-ken pops would have found something else. Please get up, ya didn't do anything that ya need to apologize to me for."

Bastet righted herself and gave Ranma a thankful look. "Thank you Ranma, you don't know what it means to have your forgiveness."

"Ah, it's OK. Sides, the fear seems to be gone now, I don't got any problems with you or Tio being here."

"I'm sorry to tell you this Ranma, but your fear really isn't gone." Bastet said.

"What do ya mean?" he asked. "I'm not gonna become afraid of you an Tio, am I?."

"No. You will never be afraid of me, unless you do something stupid, and because of your special, ah… situation with Tio, you won't ever be afraid of her."

"You mean because I'm his guardian, right?" Tio asked.

"No, that normally wouldn't help with his fear… its something else." Bastet said. Ranma and Tio looked at Bastet with curiosity in their expressions. Tio was curled up in a ball like a kitten getting told a fairy tail and Ranma was sitting cross-legged, head tilted to the side and ears forward. Bastet sighed. "I'm not really supposed to tell either of you this, but I just can't let it hang there, not with the looks you two are giving me. You both believe in reincarnation, correct?" Bastet saw both Ranma and Tio nod. "Well, the truth of the matter is, you were both twins in a previous life. Close ones at that." She paused long enough to see their eyes start to widen in realization, but continued before they could say anything. "You both died, together, in an … tragic fashion. I can't really tell you anything more about that, you'll have to discover the details on your own if you want to find out. Your souls passed on, and eventually reincarnated. Tio, you were reborn on a different plane, as you are now. For refrence Ranma, Tio has been alive for several thousand years. Ranma, your soul apparently waited a little longer to be reincarnated; you are currently in your next life after that one." Bastet stopped there to gauge their reactions.

Ranma was sitting with a sort of shell-shocked expression on her face. Tio was doing a good job of copying Ranma's expressions, but found her voice after a moment of floundering. "Me and Ranma are twins? I've never had any brothers or sisters before." Tio asked with a hint of wonder.

"No. Well, not really. In both your lives, you've been born as single children and are regesterd as such in Yggdrasil. However, the bond between your souls from your previous life was so strong that it seems a portion of it has survived reincarnation; A very rare occurrence." Bastet made a note to herself about seeing if she could do something about appending their files in the World Tree. "The bond is a large part of the reason that Ranma is not afraid of you, despite his training. He can feel you're feelings in his subconscious, and vice-a-versa." She said.

"Oh…" Tio responded.

Ranma, displaying a marked lack of the dreaded 'Saotome foot-in-mouth technique' picked up on the dejected tone in Tio's voice. Thinking for a second, Ranma spoke. "W-well, ya-know… I've never had any brothers or sisters either, and ya-know… well, um…" Ranma mumbled something that neither of the others could hear.

"What was that Ranma?" Tio questioned.

"Ah, … I was saying, that I like your company, and you're nice to me, and well, that if you, ya-know, you wanted ta be my sister, I wouldn't mind bein you're brother…" Ranma said, twiddling his fingers and cringing. This was the part where he always got hit or screamed at. Pops said it was weak to show emotion, or to get attached to anyone. They would only distract you from the art. But he felt something about Tio, a sort of connection. She was the first friend that he'd had in a while, and she seemed to care for him. He meant that about liking the idea of being Tio's brother; even if he never saw her again, there would be someone out there.

Ranma sat there, and for a few seconds, nothing happened, no one said anything. He was caught totally off guard when the flying form of Tio latched on to him with a hug that felt like a boa constrictor. "Of course! I would love to be your sister! I've watched you growing up from a distance for so long, and never had any siblings myself, and now your going to be a great brother, and…" Ranma could only hold the babbling cat-girl in his lap while Bastet stifled giggles behind her hand.

After a few minutes Tio wound down and adjust herself so she was sitting next to Ranma, and not on her. "I'm glad for you two. I will talk to the contact guild and see what I can do about letting you two see each other more often. It wouldn't be too good if the only time you could see each other is when Ranma bangs his head. But we've got to move on, we don't have much time left right now." Bastet said.

"Why not?"

"Ranma is due to wake up in a little bit, and that wouldn't be good if his mind wasn't there as well. I need to explain why you're a were-panther and a Kitsune, and not just a human holding the DNA. You see, you fell in the Jusenkyo springs, which were created at the end of the war by one of the minor artifacts, and draws on the magic flows of the Earth. Because it is younger magic and fairly weak, it can be manipulated, to an extent. So-"

"What exactly does Jusenkyo do?" Ranma interrupted. "I don't think anyone has explained it to me."

"There are hundreds of springs, each having its own form-changing enchantment that it places on those that get touched by its waters. Back when it was created, there was a way of assigning the forms that a person received from a spring by a simple spell and a drop of the desired forms blood. With the downfall of magic, the way to assign forms to the springs was lost. Unfortunately, the magic twisted over the years to accept the form of anything that drowned in the spring. You Ranma, touched the waters from several springs, before coming to a rest in an un-cursed spring. Fortunately you didn't drown in that spring, but you were still exposed to its magic for a long period of time. I noticed your plight, and did what I could to make your life easier, but I could only shift the magic, and not remove it. And before you ask, no, you don't want to know what you would have been changed into if I hadn't interfered.

"I used the magic of the springs to bring about your ancestry, turning you into a 'true-born' were-panther, but I had to cut some deals with others to do it. Part of the deal was with Inari, he helped to uh, push the paperwork through, as it were, so I could do something in time."

"Paperwork? And who is Inari?" Ranma asked.

"Inari is the god of rice, and for the most part Kitsune's. He wanted something in return, and I couldn't completely remove Jusenkyo effect, so there came that fox form you're currently in. The first spring you hit had an especially strong grip on you, that's why you're female. For all intents and purposes, you're also a natural born female Kitsune. This means that you also have innate magical abilities. As a female, there also a bit stronger then they would be otherwise, but you're going to need to get someone to train you to use them. Don't worry about being stuck in that form either, hot water will change you back, and cold will change you to this form. Eventually, maybe in a few hundred years, you will probably learn to control it yourself."

"Even with Inari's help, why would the council allow this? Not that I'm really complaining." Tio said as she rested her head on Ranma's shoulder. Ranma's expression also indicated he would also like to know, despite his grumbling that he did, in fact, mind.

"The council thinks that magic might be on the rise again on the earth, and would like to re-expose humanity to other races, to gauge their reactions if magic continues on this trend. Ranma is sort of a test run, although there are some others..." Bastet looked off to the side. "Oops, looks like were running out of time. Ranma, you're going to wake up in a minute. Just a couple more things I need to say; please don't tell anyone about what we've talked about, it wouldn't do to have word get around." Ranma nodded. "Also you still have to work through your fear of cats. Especially if you meet others of your kind, and just so you know, there are others that are on earth like you. You may want to seek them out at some point. " Ranma could see everything getting hazy and starting to fade out. He gave Tio's hand a quick squeeze "Oh, and Ranma, do me a favor?"

"Um, sure?" Ranma said. His voice sounded transparent even to him.

"Don't bite anyone!" Ranma though he heard before everything went dark again.

A.N. Yea I know, not a lot of action going on in this one. I'll do better next time. I wanted to get some history out there so it made a little more sense. Ranma's taking all this a little to well perhaps? Nah, its just shell-shock, wait till it really starts to sink in. Better chapters moving the story along to follow, stay tuned. Comments, Critiques, and Criticisms are welcome and appreciated.

Special thanks to my pre-reader Zoaxevy.


	9. Chapter 8

AN Sorry for the long update time! Not quite dead yet!

"Time to get up." Someone said. The voice had an aged quality to it. Ranma was sleeping however and ignored it. "Come on boy, wake up." The voice spoke again. Ranma grumbled in his sleep and rolled over. "Stubborn I see. Well, I know how to deal with your type." He continued to ignore the voice.

Ranma's ears registered the sound of clanking pots and pans, and then the voices return. "Hmmm Mmmm, does that smell good!" Ranma rolled over again, and started to sniff the air unconsciously. "I hope I didn't make to much." Ranma's sleep started to look troubled. "Well, since no one is awake and around to share it with me, I guess I'm going to have to eat it all…" This was the final straw for Ranma's subconscious as he bolted upright into a sitting position.

"I'm Up!" Ranma said before his mind was fully awake. He then promptly yelped. The sudden move to sit up had shifted most of his weight onto one of his tails that was trapped underneath him. Jumping up and out of the tent that he found himself in he grabbed his injured tail and grumbled. Taking a moment to take stock of his surroundings he noticed that he was in a small clearing with a couple of tents set up around a fire pit. Rubbing his injured tail, something occurred to Ranma's conscious mind. He had a tail. Checking, he found that not only did he have one tail… he had three. Crossing his eyes he looked at his elongated nose and sighed. _Nope, wasn't a dream. This is way too messed up._

Ranma abruptly sat down, carefully avoiding sitting on his tails, and started to lose himself in a vacant stare. He really couldn't deal with this. He didn't want to either. Before his downward spiral could progress to far his danger sense spiked and he rolled from his sitting position to the left. Just as he moved a rock flew where he was sitting.

"Well, glad to see at least some of your mind is awake. I said good morning." Someone said. Looking, Ranma saw a familiar looking prune perched on top of a staff. Gaping, Ranma was unable to formulate a reply. He was caught completely off-guard as the mummy picked up another rock and beamed him in the head with it.

"Wha'd Ya do that For!" He said as he reached up and rubbed his furry forehead.

"That was for calling me a 'Mummy on a stick' yesterday, child. Although I suppose I owe you something of an apology." The old woman said.

Ranma, completely out of his depth, asked the obvious question. "Apology for what?"

"It is my job as one of the Elders of my tribe to properly educate the young ones about the different kinds of creatures. They mistook you for the beastial Musk and reacting like any good Amazon, attacked. For reference child, you are not a Musk." The elder said.

"Ah… Oh." Was Ranma's reply. "So, Um, I'm Ranma Saotome, and, err… well sorry about the, um, mummy comment." He was getting some weird vibes from the old woman, but nothing malicious.

"Apology accepted Ranma. I am Cologne, Matriarch of the Jusenkyo Amazon tribe. I believe we have much to talk about, I'm sure you have questions." Cologne said, waving her hand at Ranma's body. "Why don't you tell me what's happened from your point of view and I'll see what I can do about filling in the blanks."

Weary of the stresses of so much happening to him in such a short time, Ranma decided to take a leap and trust the old woman a little. She seemed to be kind enough, even with that calculating glint in her eye, and if his senses were telling him right, she had a large amount of power, both chi and … something else. He related what had happened to him since the fight at Jusenkyo, excluding goddesses, memory blocks, long-lost soul-sisters, and other unconscious happenings. The elder sat back and took it all in, occasionally prompting for more details.

"And then I looked down and I had… well I had these." Ranma gestured at his furry chest. He wasn't wearing anything, but the fur covered anything indecent. "I don't really remember anything after that."

Cologne had a thoughtful look on her face after hearing they boys story. She could tell he was leaving things out, but Cologne knew it would probably be a bad idea to press the matter with the poor boy. He had indeed been though a lot and if the signs she was picking up from the child were correct, then his father was a less then stellar parent even by the cruelest of standards. She also had no doubt now that this female Kitsune was the Panther-boy that had broken out of her village the day before.

"I'm sorry child, I fear I have some bad news for you." Cologne started. "As far as I can tell, both the Were-cat form and the Kitsune form seem completely natural to you the way your Ki flows. You also seem to have a Jusenkyo curse or two thrown into the mix, I have an idea what one would be, but any others you may have I'm at a loss." She carefully gauged the young kits reaction. Three hundred years of reading people allowed for a little cross-species reading. Surprisingly the lad seemed more resigned then suppressed by the news. _Hmm, seems like he already knew that. Wonder if it had anything to do with that sleeplike trance he was in last night_. The child would come forward with the information when he felt comfortable with telling other. And if not, there were always ways to convince one to tell secretes. "I'm sure I can come up with some more things that you don't already know later."

That sure got the reaction she was expecting. Ranma hiccupped and coughed at the same time, causing him to give a quite humorous expression. "W-What do you mean? You didn't tell- I mean, I Didn't know what- I haven't-" Ranma was at a loss as to how the old woman knew he had already heard that. How much did she know?

"Tut-tut." Cologne shushed the Kitsune. "You don't live to be 300 years old without picking some things up. I'm sure you'll tell me once your comfortable. But first, lets get you back to your original form."

At mention of getting Ranma back to his original body, all thought of discovering how Cologne knew what she knew fled his mind. "You mean I _can_ change back? I'm not stuck like this?"

"I believe so" Cologne said and was treated to the sight of a giddy Kitsune dancing around the little clearing. It was quite an amusing sight, especially since the child hadn't managed to find her center of balance yet and kept stumbling. Cologne smiled to herself and stirred the ashes of the campfire. _Savor the small happiness's, I suppose. There are too few of them in life I fear._ Seeing that the fire had gotten back to a respectable level, she perched a kettle on a stick over the fire to heat.

Ranma winding down from her dance and seeing what the Elder was doing went over and sat across the flame. "So uh, when am I going to be able to change back?" He asked.

"As soon as the water gets hot enough." Cologne said.

Ranma was about to say something, but his stomach beat him to the punch and growled. Cologne gave him an amused look. "A-heh. You don't got anything to eat do ya? I though I heard something about food when I was waking up."

"Sorry, theres nothing to eat. And what you heard was the dreaded ancient Amazon technique 'Wakening-sleeping-Martial Artist'." She gave a small chuckle. " The girls should be back in a little bit with something to eat."

"Girls?" Ranma enquired.

"Yes, my great-granddaughter Shampoo and her friend Dowel. I sent them off earlier this morning to catch something to eat while you slept."

"Err, does your great granddaughter by chance have purple hair and carry a couple of maces?" Ranma asked apprehensively. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to stick around…

"Yes, that's her. Don't worry, I'll be around to reign her in. I know you're not a threat, and that's really the only reason she attacked in the first place. You _aren't_ a threat, right?" Cologne asked with a raised eyebrow. She already knew the boy/were-panther/Kitsune didn't have any evil intentions towards her or her great-granddaughter, it was just fun to watch younglings sputter trying to come up with an answer.

"No!" Ranma said, and sputtered trying to come up with a better rejoinder. He finally settled on a second "No!"

"Hmm, that's good. Looks like the water is ready. Here catch." Cologne said as she threw the steaming kettle at Ranma. Startled, Ranma fumbled the kettle and ended up drenching himself with the hot water.

As soon as the water hit, Ranma felt himself shift, although much more discrete then the first time. Like a slight tingling across his skin. He felt his center of balance shift, and a large amount of weight disappear off his backside. It was a wholly different experience for him.

Where before a Three tailed female Kitsune stood there was now a well built, black furred, one tailed, were-panther. Said were-panther had a slightly shell shocked expression. "A little warrrning next time please. What just happened? Why did I change?" The were-panther asked, confused.

"Ah, it's as I thought. Your forms seem to be separated based on a Jusenkyo curse. The curse uses water as a trigger. Hot water usually returns a victim to their birth form while cold water enacts the curse. In your case it seems that hot triggers your panther side while cold triggers your Kitsune side."

"I thought you said I would be changing back to my birth form!" Ranma said, and was swiftly whacked on the head with the Elders staff.

"Patience boy! This is merely the first step. And as far as the rest of the world is concerned this _is _your birth form now. The next part won't be so easy." Cologne said. "Have you ever mediated before boy?"

"A little."

_Thank the gods for small favors._ Cologne thought. "Assume a meditative position and find your center." She watched as he did. When she had judged Ranma was far enough into his meditation she continued. "Now, imagine three candles. They are simple, normal candles. Do you see these candles Ranma?"

"Yes." Ranma said. Cologne could hear the strain in his voice. She had read that the first time was always the hardest for weres, and that many didn't learn how to transform until their adolescents. She had learned this technique for transformation from the same book, she just hoped it worked. It would be bad to have an angry were-panther/Kitsune prowling around.

"Good. Now the first two should be lit. Are they lit Ranma?"

"Yes."

"I want you to go to the second candle Ranma, when you get there, you are going to reach out and-" cologne started to say, but whatever else she was going to say was lost in a startled exclamation from the edge of the clearing.

"_Aiya! What is that cat-monster doing here!_" Ranma was startled out of his trance by the Chinese voice. _Damn, I was so close, I could feel it._ Grumbling he stood back up and looked who had interrupted him changing back. It was that purple haired girl again. The one that Elder Cologne said was her great-granddaughter. What was her name again? Shampoo?

"_Xian Pu, I see your sence of timeing is as good as ever. Put your weapons away, Ranma here isn't a threat._" The Elder spoke. Ranma could tell they were talking Chinese, but couldn't understand a word they were saying.

"_But that is the cat-monster we chased from the village yesterday! The one that ate the boy you brought home!_" Shampoo said.

"_Xian pu… you can be so dense sometime. Where is that intelligence I know you have? That so-called 'cat-monster' IS the boy I brought home._' Cologne said.

"_Um… Oops?_" Shampoo said, starting to realize her mistake.

"And Speak in a language our guest can understand!" Cologne said.

"Yes Great-Grandmother!" Shampoo said.

Ranma started to tune out of the conversation at this point. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but he had caught the majority of the meaning. Shampoo was getting chewed out by her great-grandmother, and if Ranma didn't miss his guess, that would take a while. Sighing, Ranma settled down and started meditating again. He was so close last time, he figured he would be able to finish on his own. Ranma was able to bring up the three candles again. It seemed a little easier this time, but it was probably just his imagination. Again, two were lit, and one wasn't. Before they were interrupted by Shampoo, Cologne was telling him to do something with the middle candle… but he didn't have a clue what to do with it. Moving up towards it he examine it. It seemed like a normal, every-day candle to him. He really didn't see what significance it had. Tuning back into the outside world enough to hear that Shampoo was still getting dressed down by the Elder, Ranma realized that there wouldn't be much help coming from them any time soon. Ranma mentally shrugged. So he was supposed to take the second candle and do something with it… well one thing was as good as another he guessed. _So, Lets take the second candle and…. Light the third with it? sounds good to me. This is probably just a bunch of jibberish anyway._ Ranma slowly moved the second candle over to the first, tilted the flame so that it came in contact with the third candles wick, and stepped back quickly as the third candle caught with a whoosh. Ranma felt a tingling sensation pass through his body that he was now associating with a transformation. _Wow, it worked! That was simple. _So thinking, Ranma brought himself out of his trance.

_Something is not right. _Was Ranma's first thought after opening his eyes. First off, his senses had gone even more haywire then they had when he first changed. His vision suddenly seemed to lack color. His hearing went to astronomical heights. He could hear a bug crawling across the dirt several feet away. He could swear he could count every single leaf that was moving in the slight breeze. He could hear several animals moving around in the distance as well as many birds overhead. The cacophony of sounds almost overwhelmed him. He instinctually pinned his ears to his head without realizing it. He sense of smell was on a completely different level as well. He could actually smell the _emotion _coming of the two auguring Amazons. The elder smelled of annoyance while the younger smelled of mostly of apprehension and a collection of other emotions. He even smelled a third person approaching from the north side of the clearing, carrying a dead rabbit. Ranma's mouth started to water like Niagara-falls as soon as he smelled the rabbit. _Something is defiantly not right. Really not right. _Ranma feared he knew what happened. It was his worst nightmare.

"AYIA! Where Too-Too big kitty Come from!" He heard Shampoo exclaim and could swear he heard every single rock grind under Colognes staff as she turned. He could almost tell what the Elder had for breakfast as she exhaled in a sigh. Ranma was frozen in shock. What had gone wrong? He had done what the elder told him to do right? He should be back to normal, right? Did this mean he was going to be stuck this way forever? No! He couldn't be! Not like this!

Standing around watching a Six-hundred pound panther the size of a small horse panicking was not high on Colognes to-do list. Darting in quickly while the boy wasn't paying attention Cologne hit a pressure-point on the back of the big cats head. Ranma immediately calmed down.

"Let me guess. You lit the third candle?" There was no real question in the Elders voice. Ranma nodded tiredly. He just felt weary after all that had happened to him in the past couple of days. He was thankful for whatever pressure-point the Elder had used on him, it was enough to calm him down, but now all he felt like was going to sleep, even though he had gotten up a little while ago. "What are we going to do with you child?" the Elder asked, shaking her head ruefully. In actuality Cologne already knew what she wanted to do with him.

There was no real doubt in Colognes mind. The boy would make a fine addition to the tribe. Now the real problem was figuring out how to get him in. He doubted he would join willingly, the tribe still had problems with seeing men as more then second class citizens, and he didn't think he would obey the kiss of marriage if she could get her great-granddaughter to give it. _Hmm, I'll just have to use some of my potions on him while he sleeps._ Cologne thought. Yes, the boy would produce good, strong offspring.

Ranma really didn't like the smell he was getting of the Elder right now, it smelled devious, but he was feeling to drained to do anything about it. Shampoo and her friend Dowel, who had just emerged from the woods, could only gape at the large cat lounging in the middle of their camp while the Elder cackled softly to herself off to the side.

Ranma was fading fast. He knew he was about to fall asleep in a few seconds, and didn't want that to happen without finding out what the smell he was getting from Cologne meant. Mustering all his remaining strength, Ranma managed to shift himself to the side a little. It wasn't much. It was enough however.

Ranma's tail knocked over a bucket of water when he shifted, and managed to get himself wet enough to trigger his curse. His form suddenly shrunk from the horse-sized panther to a normal sized three-tailed fox. Unfortunately for Cologne the pressure point she pressed was different on a Kitsune then it was on a panther. Ranma promptly went back to panicking.

_AAAHHH! IM GONNA BE STUCK AS A FOX FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! AAAHHH!_ Were among Ranma's more coherent thoughts at that moment. In his core being, Ranma fervently wished for one thing; to be some-place safe. With his entire being he wanted this. The magic that accompanies all Kitsune felt its masters need and responded.

Before Cologne could think of how to react to the latest transformation, the three-tailed fox went **POP! **

When she looked around, it only confimed her suspicions. The fox-boy-were-panther-girl-kitsune-whateverelse was gone.

"That could have gone better, I suppose." Cologne said to herself.

Somewhere Else

Ranma fell to the hard ground with a grunt. He was no-longer in the forest, but he felt completely and utterly drained in ways he never knew he could feal drained in. He was in some sort of alleyway. He didn't know where he was, couldn't tell if there were any threats around, and it was in _another_ form. Ranma didn't faint this time, but his mind more or less shut down as he sat there among the litter and discarded news-papers in the alley.

"Oh My! You poor thing." Ranma regested a voice, but before he could muster the effort to look he was scooped up into the arms of someone. "You look completely starved and exhausted! Your coming home with me and getting some rest." Ranma wouldn't have disagreed with the voice even if he had the cognizant ability to do so. He was cradled to the chest of the person and carried off. Ranma couldn't care less. The person who had found him sounded nice and smelled of kindness and safety. For the first time in what seemed like a while, Ranma fell into a natural sleep.

AN watcha think? Betcha ya can guess who the one with the nice voice and kind smell is.


	10. Chapter 9

A.N I'm getting confused as to what pronouns to use with Ranma when. (Laughs) so from now on, I'll be referring to Ranma with the pronoun appropriate to his/her current gender.

Ranma was very comfortable sleeping, but something was digging at the edge of his awareness. He could hear the clanking of pots and pans.

"Hmmm, smells good sis." Someone said in a bleary voice.

_Someone was mentioning food? Might be another trick._ Ranma thought. He had woken enough that he was in the present state between actual wakefulness but not quite asleep.

"Thank you Nabiki. Here is your coffee. Breakfast will be ready in a little bit." Someone with a soft voice said.

"Mmm, thanks."

There was a slight pause in the conversation. Ranma could hear more sounds of cooking, and now that he noticed it, he could smell it too. That threw the theory that it was the Amazon trying to trick him awake again. Then again, he didn't think that the Matriarch was around from the sound of things.

"So have you found who our little friend belongs to? You are always so good at finding things out."

"Hm? Oh, the fox. No, sorry sis, no luck so far. None of the Zoo's around Tokyo report any missing foxes, and all the private owners I've checked into either aren't missing any either or are lying. If it belongs to someone that wanted it, they would have come forward by now."

"That's a pity. I would have to have to turn her over to animal control."

The conversation they were having was scratching something at the back of Ranma's mind. Something about cursed springs. Ranma couldn't really remember what, and it was just too comfortable to wakeup enough to think of it.

"Better be careful big sis, your mask is slipping." Nabiki said with a bit of humor in her voice. "I can tell you want to keep it. And you know what? I think you should. Having a pet would do you some good, and you deserve it. The paperwork shouldn't be to hard to come by."

The sounds of cooking stopped and he could hear the one with the soft voice turn to Nabiki.

"Oh but I don't know if I can Nabiki, what she's not house trained? What if she doesn't want to stay?"

"That's a feeble argument and you know it. You were always good with animals, so I don't imagine you'll have many problems. I'll look into the paperwork later today. Thanks for the coffee sis, got to catch the furo before kane gets back. Later sis." Nabiki called as she walked away.

After a short pause, the one with the soft voice started cooking again, and smells of food started to assault Ranma. He had never smelt anything that good before. Coming to an impasse, Ranma's half-asleep mind had to decide between finding out if he could get some of that food or to continue sleeping, which was surprisingly comfortable. Feeling that more sleep, while comfortable, wouldn't do him much good without some food to burn, Ranma decided to wake the rest of the way up and see if he could snag some food.

Opening his eyes, Ranma's system received a shock. He had shrunken! He was in a giant room, with giant countertops, with an honest-to-Kami giant cooking food a couple dozing feet away. This was defiantly not right. _Woah, Woah, Woah! O.k. lets see here… One: I'm in giant room, check. Two; There is a giant in an apron cooking something over there with a giant knife, check. Three; I'm resting in a Giant basket covered in a blanket? C-check. Four; I … sigh … paws, check. Lets see…_ ranma took a moment to examine himself… err make that herself._ Yep, still got three tails, but it feels completely different then before. I think I need to get some things clear with myself. At least until I can figure out how to fix this, I am a were-panther. That means, according Bastet-sama I can change into a human, an half-panther, and a full panther… the Amazon elder showed me how I think. Candles, right. Three lit must be full form, and two would be half, so one would be human? Easy enough. I also turn into a, Kitsune, which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the girl part. Bastet-sama said something about magic, too. So if I can change from a half-panther to a full panther, then that probably means that I can change from a half-three-tailed-fox to a full-three-tailed-fox… or something… so that's probably what happened. But I'm still a girl in this form Dangit! Gotta be some way to fix that. So if I have a half and full fox form, maybe I have a human-Kitsune form? _

"Oh my! Your awake." The giant-err person cooking said, interrupting Ranma's train of thought. _Gotta remember that I'm smaller now. _Looking up Ranma could see a pair of concerned eyes watching him from a cute face. Long brown hair flowed off her shoulders. She wore a cooking apron that said in English "Kiss the Cook" over a simple dress. Ranma didn't know how he could read English.

"Would you like something to eat? You've been asleep for days." The apron-clad one asked. At the mention of food, she had Ranma's full attention. She giggled at Ranma who was rapidly nodding his head. "You're a cute little thing. I wonder why anyone would want to get rid of you." Superstitiously glancing over her shoulder and out the doorway, the girl grabbed some scraps from the counter and put them on a plate. "Don't tell anyone that I'm feeding you kitchen scraps. It's supposed to be a bad habit." Ranma could smell them from where he was, and it was all she could do to keep herself from leaping at the plate as the girl brought it down to her.

"Oh my, you were hungry, weren't you?" the girl said as the fox voraciously dug into the food. Ranma would have answered, but was in too much of a state of bliss from the food. Quickly finishing the plate, Ranma licked it clean. Seeing that the fox had polished off all the food she had giver her, the girl giggled and gave the fox some more. Ranma managed to stop eating long enough to give a "Merp!" of thanks. Kasumi giggled again. "You're welcome for the food little one." She wached the fox finish off the second plate, which admittedly didn't take to long. "Well-now, we just cant keep on calling you 'Fox,' can we? Oh my, I haven't introduced myself yet, My name is Kasumi." Kasumi said.

Ranma, without thinking, tried to say 'my name is Ranma. Thanks again for the food.' What came out was a high-pitched, rough sounding, and perfectly understandable "My name is Ranma. Thanks again for the food."

Kasumi promptly gave a squeak of surprise and fell on her butt and stared at Ranma. Ranma, every bit as surprised as Kasumi, stared right back.

The tableau was interrupted before anything else could happen by someone with long hair and a sweaty gi walking by the doorway and seeing Kasumi on the ground. "Kasumi, are you alright?" the girl asked as she came over to Kasumi.

"N-no, Akane, I'm fine. I just slipped." Kasumi said as Akane helped her to her feat. "I'm fine, really." She said, giving Ranma a quick glance.

"Well, if you're sure…" Akane said, and seeing Kasumi's dismissive gesture, continued. "I'm going to be in the dojo if you need anything."

"Thank-you Akane, I'm fine." Kasumi said. She could see the doubt in her sister's face, but thankfully Akane let it drop and left.

As soon as Akane left, Kasumi spun, gave Ranma a weird look, and then stormed over to a cupboard. Throwing the door open, she started to rummage around inside.

Ranma meanwhile, was trying to figure out how she had spoken while being a normal fox… well maybe a not so normal fox. _Right, the Kitsune thing. So I can understand different languages and speak as a fox? Whatever, I'm not gonna think about it._ Seeing the kind one who had fed her rummaging around in a cupboard, Ranma could feel the stress radiating off her. It felt really unnatural to her, and she felt a strong compulsion to try and make it better. Ranma hoped that she wasn't the cause, but thought it probably was. It's not every day someone has a fox talk to them.

Getting up and making her way next to Kasumi, Ranma was at a loss as to what to do in this situation. Kasumi was digging deeper and deeper into the cupboard, and didn't seem to be coming any closer to finding what she was looking for.

"What'cha looking for?" Ranma asked, curious.

"My pills…" Kasumi mumbled from halfway inside the cupboard

"What Pills?" Ranma said.

"The one I took when I was a child." Kasumi replied, sounding a little bit more stressed. Ranma couldn't tell if it was because of the conversation, or that Kasumi didn't seem to be finding the Pills.

"Why were you taking pills as a kid?" Ranma asked, growing concerned. He could feel how nice the person next to him was, and couldn't detect anything wrong. People with mental illnesses or other things wrong with them always felt a little bit off, even if it was a normal sickness, but Kasumi felt completely natural. Ranma couldn't imagine why she would need any pills, especially ones from her childhood.

Kasumi suddenly pulled herself out of the cupboard. "Because I would talk to animals when I was little." She said to the fox, with a hint of panic. Why couldn't the little thing be quiet?

"Well, I don't see what's so wrong with that." Ranma said, confused.

"Because they would answer back!" Kasumi said.

Ranma's reply was cut off as a man with long hair and a mustache poked his head around the corner. "Kasumi, is everything alright in here?" The man said

Spinning around with a smile plastered on her face, Kasumi said, "Yes father, everything is fine. Breakfast is almost ready." Kasumi paused, and took a quick glance at Ranma. "Actually father, I forgot to get something at the market. I must go and get it right away before they sell out! I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to serve yourself this morning." So saying Kasumi stormed out of the kitchen before her father could reply. Ranma gave chase.

He caught up with her as she was leaving the front gates. "Hey, Wait!" She called. Kasumi continued to walk, ignoring Ranma. "I really don't see what the problem with talking with animals is anyways." Ranma said to himself, but Kasumi heard.

She suddenly came to a stop and looked around. Seeing that no one was around to see her arguing with a fox she turned to said fox. "Because I'm not really talking with you! This conversation is just a figment of my imagination. Its not real!" she said with a sniffle in her voice.

"Well, _I _think that we really are talking-"Ranma would have said more but was interrupted by a stressed Kasumi.

"Hah, I know that I'm imagining all this! Just like I'm imagining you having three tails! No one else sees three!" Kasumi said.

"Well as a matter of fact, I DO have three tails. And you _are_ talking with me. I think it's something ta do with me, and not you though. I dun know why no one else sees my tails." Ranma said.

"Right, I can see three tails, but no one else can, you can talk, or I can speak with animals or something, and I'm not crazy. Next you'll be telling me that I'm some sort of magical girl and you're my guide!" Kasumi said.

"Err, well, no. I don't think I'm going to turn you into a magical girl or anything. Come-on give me a break. I'm trying to help and, I'm new to this whole Kitsune thing." Ranma said.

"Hah! I know for a fact that Kitsune are not real!" So saying Kasumi spun and strode into the street.

Kasumi didn't see the truck barreling down the road, but Ranma did. "Hey watch out! There's a truck coming!" Ranma tried to warn her.

Kasumi did the worst thing possible. She stopped in the middle of the road and plugged her ears. Ranma panicked. The truck wouldn't be able to stop in time, and Kasumi wasn't going to move on her own. He was to small to pick her up. Heck, he was to small even to make her budge an inch. There was nothing he could do! This nice girl who saved him and fed him and gave him a nice place to sleep was going to get killed and it would be all his fault!

Ranma didn't know what to do. The only thing Ranma knew was that if she didn't do something, he would never be able to live it down. Without thinking Ranma took a leap out into the street and reached with his spirit for a solution. Suddenly, while she was in the air, Ranma shifted. She was back in his Kitsune form. Not one to look a gift-horse in the mouth, or waste time, Ranma landed, scooped Kasumi up, and jumped just in time to get missed by the truck.

Landing on a nearby roof, Ranma set a wide eyed Kasumi down gently. Ranma stepped back nervously grabbed one of her tails and started to kneed it. Kasumi could only stare at the figure out of fairy tail standing before her.

Slowly she reached out and touched Ranma, touching her. A small serene smile appeared on Kasumi's face. "You _are_ real." Kasumi said, and then fainted.


	11. Interlude One

Interlude 

Somewhere in a musty corner of a dark room buried hundreds of feet below the surface something was not right. These readings couldn't be correct. The computer had to be wrong. It just had to be. If what it showed was correct, it spelled disaster.

Anderson's forehead beaded with sweat as he ran the figures again. It just had to be wrong. If not… all their work-

**Beep.**

The computer had finished running the numbers again. No change. Was there something wrong with it? some small bug they had missed? But it couldn't be wrong. Not Isis. Not after he made it run the figures twice. Isis was never wrong the first time through, let alone the second. It was inconceivable that Isis could have a bug. Even if one ever popped up, she would fix it herself.

The room was barely lit with the words, casting his hunched shadow across jumbles of cable and wires and bleak concrete walls. He was at a loss as to what happened, what changes, to make the outcome they had work so hard towards just disappear like that. With no options left he groped for his keyboard. Finally finding it half buried under discarded wrappers and empty bottles of water, he typed in a command that would notify people that needed to know. Hesitating for half a second, he hit the send key.

With nothing left to do, he sat and stared at the word, glowing in bright red, seeming to float there in the center of his screen. Negative Resolution. A more ambiguous and damning two words he couldn't imagine.

After what seemed like minutes, but was probably hours, the door to his dark dank room swung open like a gunshot. It startled the pale man sitting in the chair. Looking at the doorway, he had to quickly look away as the light that spilled in hurt his eyes. He could tell a tall figure had entered, but even after the door was closed, he couldn't make out any details. He had to many spots in his eyes. Afterimages of a tall and imposing figure in black bracketed by the light of the doorway.

He could hear the figures deliberate footsteps as he came closer, an outline becoming apparent from the monitors soft glow. Before he could say anything, the figure spoke:

"Negative Resolution." The voice said in a strong, emotionless monotone. "I see. Show me the criteria." It commanded.

Anderson leaped to comply, pulling up his analysis data and Isis's own additions. He turned to the figure. "T-the defining point is that I-Isis no longer predicts a 'Saffron' downfall." The figure seemed the mealy glance at the data, not even acknowledging that the pale man had said anything, before turning away and starting back to the door.

"W-wait, what about…" he spoke, trying to find out what he needed to do, if anything could in fact be done.

"It is not so big of a problem as you make it out to be, Mr. Anderson, merely some interference from the opposition. Isis can only predict based on what her satellites feed her, after. And that a failure if things continue as they are. We only have to take things to the next stage. Your service will be needed again in a little while, but until then take a break, Mr. Anderson. And get some Sun. This fight is far from over."


	12. Chapter 10

Dreamscape 

Kasumi was dreaming. She knew she was dreaming, but couldn't change anything in the dream. Not for lack of trying however. This dream was no dream at all, noir a nightmare, but close enough. It was a memory, an old one. While she didn't exactly relish reliving this particular memory, it was nice to be able to see her mother again.

She was with her mother, who was in a hospital bed. Mom was going away. Little Kasumi understood what that meant, if barely. Nabiki was to young to really understand; she thought mommy was going on a trip. The Kasumi that was watching the memories through her smaller self's eyes knew exactly what was happening in the dream. This was around when her mother first checked into the hospital. It would be a while before she finally passed on. Mom was always a fighter.

The memory was playing before her, but like with all memories, this one was faded. She couldn't make out what anyone was saying, but what she was able to see told her enough. Her mother was in the hospital bed holding Akane, reading a storybook to Nabiki who sat on the edge, while little Kasumi sat in a chair next to her mother. The voices were blurry and the images were indistinct, but Kasumi could care less. She sat for a while in contentment, listening to the smooth tones of her mothers voice as she read from the book.

Something shifted while Kasumi sat there. She could still tell she was sitting there listing to her mother, but her point of view shifted. All of a sudden, she was standing at the doorway, looking in, and seeing herself, her sisters, and her mother in the room. Standing there looking in, she saw her father, younger and more energetic walking up the hallway towards a room talking with a doctor.

"I understand your concern doctor, but it is just a phase she is going through." Suddenly Kasumi could hear her father and the doctor talking like it was happening right next to her in real life, and not just a memory.

"Mr. Tendo, you need to listen. We are sorry that there is not much we can do for your wife, but you can't just ignore the health of your daughters." The doctor said

"My daughters are in perfect health, thank you very much." Soun said.

"Physically, yes. They are in excellent health in that regard. But mentally, they could be less then healthy. Few children have to deal with the knowledge that a parent is dieing right before them."

"My girls are strong. They will be fine." Soun said.

"Strong as they may be, this is not something that someone can easily live with. Most children that lose a parent lose them in an abrupt way, witch results in a variety of different reaction, most of which can be dealt with over time. For your little girls however, it is not the same; they are going to watch your wife slowly waste away. It is a horrible thing to subject a child too." the doctor said.

"And what do you suggest I do? Keep my girls from seeing their mother?" Soun asked, with a growing tone of anger.

"No, of course not. Just keep an eye out for their mental health. For the younger two I don't see too much of a problem, it will be for them much like it is for ones that abruptly lose a parent, but your oldest, Kasumi, is already showing some warning signs. You yourself say she talks with animals." The doctor said.

"It is just a phase she's going through. Much like an imaginary friend." Soun argued.

"Maybe, Maybe not. I believe it might be a result of her trying to deal with her mother dieing. It is a common phenomenon in cases like these. If she doesn't stop soon, I want you to give this man a call." The doctor handed her father a card. "He is a psychiatrist, and is experienced with problems like these, and it is easy to fix; just a couple months of taking some pills."

"Kasumi doesn't have a problem. It's a phase."

"All phases end at some point, Mr. Tendo. If she doesn't learn how to properly deal with her mothers death instead of retreating into the fantasy that she can talk to animals it's going to leave long-lasting problems. At least consider it," the doctor said.

"All right, all right. Fine, I'll consider it. Now if you will excuse me, I'm going in with my family." So saying, Soun opened the door and stepped in to greet his family. The scene faded out and she could tell the memory/dream was over

Kasumi shuddered at the implications of the memory as she woke up. Most of the details started to fade as she reached towards consciousness, but the ideas that they spawned refused to leave her.

The first thing she noticed when she woke up was she was not in her bed. Far from it. She was on some sort of hard gravely surface, gazing at a clear blue sky. She sat there for a moment trying to think how she could have gotten up here.

Abruptly she remembered. She was trying to get away from the little talking three tailed fox. She remembered finding the poor thing starved and half-dead in that alleyway. She took pity on the thing and picked it up to take home. She thought it was odd that the thing had three tails, but thought it might just be some odd breed. She just couldn't leave it out to the elements. He had found a nice basket and blanket to keep it in, and had put it in the kitchen where she could keep an eye on it. She couldn't determine that anything in particular was wrong with the little thing, just that it was exhausted. She had asked her sister to see if she could find the owners. When her sister didn't comment on the odd number of tails, she started to get worried. The little fox had slept for the better part of two days before waking. And after it woke things started to get odd. It seemed to be able to understand her, and would respond to what she said. A lot like most animals had when she was little. Before she started to take those pills. Then it spoke to her.

She nearly lost it then and there and screamed, but managed to reign the urge in. She had always been told that speaking to animals and pretending that they responded was just some way for her mind to deal with the loss of her mother. She didn't really want to believe what they told her then, but they made such logical arguments, and when she started to take those pills, the animals stopped talking back. as she grew older she began to see it from the others point of view, and started to understand that it was just a way for hear to deal with her mothers death. She was able to go off the pills and continued to live normally. Well, as normally as she could. Then the fox had spoke. She was old enough to know that animals couldn't speak. It just wasn't possible. But here was this little fox thing, It's jaw moving, and words coming out. No one else apparently saw the any more tails then one on it and she didn't want an express trip to an asylum by asking her father or sisters if they had heard the fox talking, so she did the only thing she could. Try and find the pills. She must have been regressing or something. The fox continued to ask her questions, and against her better judgment, she replied.

Half her mind, the whimsical part, mostly ignored since her mothers death, had spoken-up at that point. What if she really _could_ speak with animals? Wouldn't that be wonderful? But then the logical part of her mind came back with a vengeance. It was impossible to talk with animals. There was just something wrong with her mind. It was the simplest explanation. And the simplest explanation was always right.

She didn't know how she got out onto the sidewalk, but the fox had followed her, and for the life of her sounded like he was trying to fix something it had broken. Then it made the claim of being a Kitsune. That opened up a whole new can of worms for Kasumi. A real life Kitsune… that would mean magic was real. But magic couldn't be real; it wasn't logical. Kasumi needed a few minutes alone to get her thoughts in order, so she stepped into the street to cross.

In hindsight it was a stupid thing to do, steping into a street without looking like that. She heard the fox-thing shout a warning, but she covered her ears and ignored it, humming loudly to herself. At the last instant, she turned as saw a truck barreling down on her, breaks squealing, trying to stop. She saw that it wouldn't be able to stop in time, not even close. She hadn't seen or heard the truck, but the little fox had. It even tried to warn her. She would have had to of seen the truck coming to be able to project the warning onto the little fox. She was sure that she hadn't see the truck coming herself.

Then a pair of strong arms scooped her up and she was suddenly flying up through the air, away from the truck. She closed her eyes and clung to her rescuer tighter and she felt… fur? Feeling her rescuer set her down she opened her eyes and took a good look. What stood before her was something right out of a fairy tail.

Standing there, Covered in reddish auburn fur with white fur markings along her belly and paws, a fox like face; right down to the pointed ears on her head, snout, whiskers, and fur-markings, and kneading one tail while two others hung behind her, was a three-tailed blue eyed Kitsune.

Kasumi remember herself on autopilot reaching out and touching the myth, and felt it. The Kitsune was real, she was sure to her core. She supposed that was the point where she passed out, because she couldn't remember anything more.

"If you stay laying on the hard ground your going to put a crick in your back." An amused voice interrupted her musings.

The sound startled Kasumi into sitting upright. She found herself on a worn hillside trail surrounded by trees. The sun was high in a blue sky, while a few puffy white clouds floated around. Down the hill she could see rice patties growing and some workers tending to them. The traveled parallel to the slope, seeming to circle around the hill as it disappeared into the underbrush.

Looking for the source of the voice, she saw a older gentleman with a long white beard sitting on the trail next to her, wearing a worn, but comfortable looking set of travelers clothing. He was holding a bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks, and had a sack filled with something set down next to him. Seeing her rapidly look at her surroundings and then at him, he started chuckling lightly.

"Here, you look like you could use something to eat. Have some of my rice, I have plenty." The old man said, passing her his bowl and chopsticks.

"Um, Thank you." Kasumi said. Even though she didn't actually feel hungry, took a polite bite of the rice. It was surprisingly good. She was about to ask the kind old man where she was and what his name was, but he started talking.

"Normally send my little friend to deliver messages, " he said with a sigh "but I felt the need to take a more hands on approach since it involved that new ward of mine. Please listen closely." He said, looking at Kasumi expectantly. Kasumi, at a loss for what to do, nodded to indicate she was listening. There would be time for her questions after the gentleman finished.

"You have recently had a little, shall we say 'experience' with a three-tailed talking fox named Ranma, who, reluctantly, claimed to be a Kitsune. Fist thing I want to say dear, is that you are _not_ crazy, and that those events actually did happen. Furthermore, you have never been crazy. You can talk to animals. You haven't heard them in a while because you've been blocking the ability, but never doubt that you can talk to them if you want. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Secondly, the three-tailed fox that claimed to be named Ranma as well as claimed to be a Kitsune, is in fact, a three-tailed Kitsune named Ranma. Among other things. " Kasumi could feel that the old man wasn't lying, and for some reason knew the words he spoke were the truth. "Now, back to the little mischief maker you've recently found. His name is Ranma, and he was sent to you"

Kasumi had to speak up at that point, as she could feel herself getting more and more confused. " Um, Excuse me, but I can only assume you mean the fox I found in the alley, but that was a female fox, and you are refereeing to it as if it were a male…"

"Ah, yes. That" He said. "Well, that's a complicated situation. The thing is that the poor thing is really both. He can be a she if she want and, she can be a he if he wants. I have no doubt that it will cause no end of headaches for the child in the future. For now he sees himself as male. But enough about that, I could talk for ages on the subject, and Ranma is the better one to talk to it about. So… err, where was I?" the kindly old man asked, looking slightly confused.

Kasumi, despite the surreal situation, giggled. "You had said that his name was 'Ranma,' And that he was sent to me?" she prompted the older man. Even if the older man was making stuff up, it would be rude not to listen to him till he finished. Who knows, there may be a grain of truth to be found in his words as well.

"Ah yes, the new one. Ranma was sent to you for a variety of reasons, but most of them are unimportant at the moment. The only real reason is that around you is the safest place to be. For the time being anyway."

"Safe? Me? I-I.." Kasumi tried to come up with something to say.

"Yes dear. You are one of the safest persons he could be around at the moment. You have a kind and caring spirit and are the best suited on your planet to help him, and it doesn't hurt that you have a few gifts, either. Unfortunately you have had little experience with these gifts, but maybe that will change now, eh?"

"But… but I don't know if I cant protect Her … him, from anything. I'm not a fighter and Akane can't always be around."

"Ranma is a physically strong being, able to do amazing things with his or her body, depending, and perform wonders feats of skill and strength. Fighting he is perfectly accustomed to and can handle himself, or herself, as the case may be, just fine. No, Ranma's problem's are of a more mental nature. He needs a quite and calm place to work through the changes that have happened to him recently. He can tell you about the particular changes himself when she is ready. They have happened suddenly and abruptly for him, and her mind is being stretched thin, close to the breaking point." The old man seemed to lean back and think for few seconds.

"For now with you is the best place for the child to be. Help Ranma recover and discover about him and herself. It would probably be best if you kept this a secrete from the rest of your family as well. At least for a little while. They wouldn't react well to knowledge of the supernatural at this moment in time and it could become dangerous for the little kit." Kasumi silently agreed, while her father intended good, he would end up telling half of Tokyo while bar hoping. Nabiki would probably sell the information to some scientist. While she knew Nabiki did things like that to help keep the family afloat financially, she didn't exactly agree with the methods her sister chose. Akane… who knew how her little sister would react? It could be any one of a hundred reactions, ranging from latching onto the Kitsune like a pet, and smashing it flat for some perceived insult. Akane had a higher probability of latching onto the young Kitsune as a pet while thinking it was a normal fox then smashing it. Sadly, she had to agree, the old gentleman was correct, it was best to keep the secret from her family for now.

There was a distant rumble of thunder, even though there were no more clouds in the sky then before. Looking into the sky, the old man seemed to listen to something only he could hear. " Looks like our time is up. I'm sorry for dumping all this on you without giving you some time to think and talk about it, but it's out of my hands. Its time for you to get going now."

"Wait, I never got to ask your name. Where am I going?"

The old man cracked a smile and replied; "My name? Well, it's not too hard to figure out if you think about it. And you are waking up. Fair journey to you Kasumi." The old man said. Before she could respond, he made a small gesture with his hands, and everything went dark.

The Real World 

Kasumi woke to a blue cloudless sky and the sound of traffic. She was laying on a hard surface, and had unreasonable clear memories of the dreams she had just had. _Were they dreams?_

Sitting up, she looked around. She was on a roof. _So did that all really happen?_ Something inside of her gave an irrevocable 'Yes', but she feared the implications. Looking around Kasumi found a ladder near one edge of the roof, leading to and alley, and then to the street below. On the other side, curled up in a corner, sat a figure posed in dejection. Sitting, with her head resting on her knees and her arms wrapped over her hears was the Kitsune, Ranma. The fox-girl obviously hadn't seen Kasumi move yet.

Kasumi was presented with a choice. She could probably make it to and down the ladder without being noticed. After that she could go by her doctors, get some pills and forget all this as just a temporary relapse. All the symptoms were there of a relapse, she had read about them in a medical book she had borrowed. But that would mean turning her back on something fantastical, even if it was only in her head. As much as she wanted to believe in the magical, she didn't know if she could. It was too strange, too weird to be believable. The feelings and thoughts that she had during her dream had faded, and cold hard logic was reasserting itself.

Putting her hand down to brace herself standing up, she felt something odd. Two somethings. Picking them up, she brought them around to look at them. It was a pair of chopsticks. Where in heaven had those come from? The she heard something through the noise of the traffic. Someone was sniffling, like they were trying to keep from crying. Realizing it was coming from the fox-girl, Kasumi stood, firming her resolve in her decision.

A.N. Yes, yes, I know. It's a lousy place to stop, and you people hate cliff-hangers. (I kinda do too, but hey…) Just for reference, I _am _going to go back at some point and fix all the pronouns when refereeing to Ranma's current form, and hopefully make it a bit easier to read. Hopefully I'll be able to write a bit more action in, because all this mental and characterization stuff does get boring. Still I've got to get them from point A to point B without making it seem to fake. Maybe I will find a way to cut it down in the future. And yes, yes, I know I've taken some liberties with Kasumi, but that's just the way it came out when I started to write (I hope it didn't come out to contrived). And as for Ranma being near the breaking point… wouldn't you be?

Anyways, thanks to everyone who left comments, (I do read them) they helped a lot with motivation.


	13. Hiatus Notes

Well, I've got some bad news. Well, not really bad, per-se, but disappointing I suppose. I'm not going to be able to continue Ranma, Far Traveler for a while. I know, I know, the masses cry out and women weep at this injustice. I apologies, but its kind of out of my hands. You see, I'm off to Basic Training in the Army to learn from a drill sergeant various things about my mother and heritage. Needless to say, after Basic, I'll be going straight into Advanced Training. I should be back about Mid-December, hopefully, but until then R, FT is going to have to go on hiatus. It goes without saying that I fully intend to write many more chapters in this and other stories, but it's going to have to wait a bit. (I don't think they'll let me bring a laptop… Pity.) Sorry to disappoint, but the Army waits for no one. I'll be back writing more before you know it.

FireForEffect


End file.
